Bishop's Gamble
by lbindner
Summary: Bishop returns to face Zorro again, but Diego gets in the way.
1. Chapter 1

Bishop's Gamble

By Linda Bindner

A/N 1: Not beta read - every mistake is all _mine!_

A/N 2: This story is complete with 11 chapters

Chapter 1

The sun beat unmercifully down on the dry, dusty streets and alleys making up the Pueblo de Los Angeles. The small California town was enjoying the final throes of a heatwave that made the air seem even more stifling than during the visit from Emissary Risendo months earlier. Citizens sweated, lancers drooped, and stray dogs panted noisily beside the mission. Even the flies could only find the energy to buzz lethargically on the streaked adobe walls. The plaza of that coastal town was just beginning to empty as everyone moved purposely towards the one spot in the entire pueblo that promised to be invitingly cool, the tavern.

Judging by the noise of the rowdy lunch crowd, Victoria was soon going to have her hands full with a stream of lunch orders and thirsty customers. Sitting at an inside table out of the sun, Diego sat reading some poetry and drinking orange juice that was beginning to warm in its glass. Apparently even Victoria had a hard time keeping things cool on such a hot day.

The noise from the crowd increased yet again, and he glanced up from his book to see if any one particular part of that crowd was causing such a loud ruckus, but didn't expect to witness anything of interest. Therefore, when his gaze landed on the one thing he never thought he would see again in Los Angeles, he was shocked into a bout of stupid blinking.

Bishop.

Then it hit him like a boulder rolling downhill in a rockslide.

He was staring at _Bishop!_

Bold as brass, the gambler sat at one of Victoria's tables beside the door, his controlled grin half hidden by long blond hair. He stared straight at Victoria with an avidity bordering on craziness, completely missing Diego's sudden scrutiny.

Vividly recalling the gambler's last visit to the Los Angeles pueblo, Diego cringed. Bishop had shot Victoria while she defended Zorro, his original target. Diego had then spent the worst week of his life anxiously waiting for Victoria to regain consciousness. There had been no guarantee that she would ever wake, either, so the fact that she had was a miracle he felt he didn't deserve.

To make matters worse, the moment she did regain consciousness, Diego discovered that his father meant to fight a duel with the gambler. As Zorro, he intervened in time to stop Don Alejandro from courting certain death at Bishop's hand. The trouncing Zorro then gave Bishop had been as public as it had been complete. He'd finally threatened to kill him if he ever showed his face in or near Los Angeles ever again.

But that had been several years ago. Diego never thought he'd actually have to carry through with that threat. Yet, here the gambler was again, in spite of Zorro's promised retribution.

The tavern owner was of course oblivious to the danger she was in as she stood right beside the bar, facing the open front doors, happily chatting with one of her few female friends, Señorita Estancia Caldone (Tansy to her friends and family). A bottle of wine obviously meant for some thirsty customer lay cradled in her right hand as she gestured animatedly to Tansy with her left.

Grinning his sick grin of intent focus, Bishop carefully aimed his gun straight at Victoria.

Reacting without thought, Diego threw his book with all his might straight at Bishop's gun.

 _Crack!_

Diego's aim was as true as Bishop's would have been. His book collided with the gun at the exact moment Bishop pulled the trigger. The gun exploded with a tremendous roar that immediately shocked the noonday crowd into silence. The bottle in Victoria's hand exploded into a million pieces, flaying her hands with shattered glass and spraying red wine onto both señoritas. Bishop's gun flew away to skitter crazily across the tavern's scuffed tile floor as Diego's book simultaneously slid into a darkened corner near the door. In the following breath, Diego hurtled in a mad leap onto Bishop, sending the two men tumbling to the floor.

Diego's leap gave him the momentum to roll Bishop several times before they smashed into a random table bench. Bishop was the first to recover, using the ball of his hand to whack the bottom of Diego's chin in a quick first strike.

But the purposeful action, however malicious, was nothing compared to the righteous fury that gripped Diego. Only one thing reverberated continuously in his mind; this man had almost killed Victoria. In reaction, after years of tight control, Diego lost his temper.

Even as Bishop's punch landed on his chin, Diego managed to straddle him when the bench halted their wild roll across the floor. The gambler instantly punched him again, wriggling insanely. "Get off me! Alcalde, I demand-"

Diego instinctively sloughed off the hits to his chin to punch the man in the jaw, punch him again, then slam Bishop's head into the floor.

Diego's blows successfully stunned Bishop, but only for a second. With a mighty heave, Bishop forced them both to roll once more, landing on top of Diego this time. Now it was an upright Bishop who plowed his fist into Diego's jaw, then viscously kneed him in the ribs.

Diego would have doubled over if he'd been standing, but his prone position helped his fast recovery. A mighty heave of his own sent the two men rolling one more time, Diego landing on top once more. Not wasting such an opportunity, he sent a punch directly to Bishop's right temple.

The gambler's head snapped to the side with the force of the blow, but Bishop immediately turned the energy of his head snap to roll them yet again. This time though, he miscalculated his own strength, ending up once more straddled by the furious caballero. Before Bishop could recover his equilibrium, Diego's fourth punch landed squarely on his left rib cage.

The calculated blow knocked the man into a daze, and Diego lost no time taking advantage of such dullness. He none-too-gently flipped the gambler onto his stomach, firmly pressing a booted foot into the middle of his back to render him as motionless as possible. Then he roughly yanked the man's hands behind him, tying them deftly with a length of material torn from one of the tavern's colorful decorations. He didn't trust Bishop not to make a wild escape attempt if given the opportunity, so he made the knots as tight as possible, tying his feet together in a similar fashion. Finally, Diego rolled Bishop onto his back again, jerked him into a sitting position, and thrust him against the nearest roof support pillar, where he used his sash to secure him.

He was on the verge of gagging Bishop to stop his annoying yells of pain when all of a sudden, hands dragged him forcefully up and away from the gambler. Diego fought against them, unmindful of the many people who launched themselves between him and the would-be assailant. Straining, Diego almost broke away only to be jerked back a second time. Then someone ruthlessly slapped him.

Stunned, he could just make out an unfamiliar voice through the ringing in his ears. "Hold him! Tie him up if you have to!"

But Diego was like a man gone wild. He felt sure that Bishop would take this tempting opportunity to escape if they allowed it. "He's going to kill Victoria!"

A second slap was his only answer, followed by a cascade of water soaking him from head to toe. Stunned anew, Diego didn't shake off his following confusion quickly enough to stop another punch from cracking into his jaw.

Bones aching, water dripping from the end of his chin, Diego stood heaving air, helpless to stop the lancers from quickly surrounding him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Gomez, that's enough!" Sergeant Mendoza exclaimed.

"But he's out of control!"

Mendoza scoffed, "Don Diego's less likely to lose control than you are!"

A moment of awkward silence went by while the enthusiastic Gomez paused in his attack. They all took the unscheduled break to glance around Victoria's tavern.

This corner of the inn was all but destroyed. Tables lay in splinters on the floor. Broken dishes littered every corner, and food splashed all the crevices. Dripping material draped over upturned benches, and the remains of several checkered napkins punctuated the chaos. Unmoving peons and caballeros gazed in wordless astonishment as the lancers continued to hang onto Diego's arms.

But Diego had eyes only for the targeted Señoritas. After Bishop's attack, Tansy Caldone was shocked, but still standing. Covered in wine stains just like Victoria, her riding gloves had saved her hands from the flying glass. Except for the spreading stains on her skirt as well as being frightened to death, she was unhurt.

It was Victoria who had once again sustained the more severe injury, but thankfully hadn't been shot. She'd been completely surprised when the bottle had exploded in her hands to spray her with wine and flay her with the flying glass. She'd then tripped on a displaced bench and fallen over backwards to land in an undignified pile on the floor. However, other than enough cuts on her exposed skin to make her look like she'd taken a bath in glass, she appeared only stunned by her fall.

Still, Diego didn't want to take any chances. "Don't touch her!" he shouted as several people drew near her. "She might have wounds we can't see. Someone get Dr. Hernandez!"

"I'm right here, Diego. Everyone, move aside!"

Dr. Hernandez gave individuals gathered around Victoria several rough shoves to get them out of the way. The earlier babble of voices was now a hush as the old doctor assessed the Señorita's injuries.

"What happened?" Dr. Hernandez brusquely asked while quickly taking Victoria's pulse.

Diego pulled uselessly against the lancers detaining him, but they refused to release him to go to her, so instead he breathlessly answered, "Bishop tried to shoot her. I threw my book at him to spoil his aim."

"Remarkably fast thinking," Hernandez replied, running his hands over Victoria's arms now, feeling for those possibly unseen wounds that Diego had mentioned. "What happened then?"

It was Victoria who groggily answered, "Something hit the wine bottle I was holding. It just blew up."

"Right onto your hands by the look of it," Hernandez judged as he critically studied Victoria's bloodied right hand. He pulled a liquid vial out of his medical bag, then shook its contents onto rag he carried. "This will sting a bit."

Victoria's yelp of pain heralded the arrival of Alcalde De Soto as he crashed through the tavern's front doors.

The military man instantly took in Señorita Caldone leaning against the green bar, saw Victoria lying on the floor as the doctor cared for her, then noticed the bound form of Bishop. A bedraggled Diego de la Vega stood in the grips of several unapologetic lancers, anxiously looking on. "What happened here?"

Mendoza instantly said, "It all happened so fast, mi Alcalde, that-"

"Mendoza, report!" De Soto obviously didn't want extraneous details.

The effect of the familiar bark was immediate. Mendoza drew himself up, gave his military tunic an official tug, then pointed at Bishop. "That man shot Señorita Victoria!"

De Soto's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "I see no gunshot wound."

Mendoza explained, "He shot her two years ago, right after he gambled, cheated, or swindled everyone in town. He was warned never to return to this pueblo again."

"Warned… by my predecessor?"

"By Zorro."

"Zorro!" De Soto scowled. "One bandit threatening another - that's rich!"

Mendoza shuddered. "It wasn't like that, Alcalde. Like I said, he shot Señorita Victoria. Zorro told him to never come back or he would kill him."

De Soto barked a second laugh as he took in Bishop's bound form. "As a threat, it obviously didn't work."

Bishop, now recovered from Diego's loss of temper, writhed against his bonds, tightening them further. "I would have succeeded, too, if not for the likes of _him!_ " He sent a scathing sneer in Diego's direction.

More in charge of his faculties as the anger drained out of him, Diego thought to keep a low profile now that the Alcalde had appeared. "He would have shot Victoria if I hadn't stopped him."

In spite of his wishes, Diego's statement brought De Soto's glare directly onto the caballero. "How is it that a poet brought down an experienced criminal?"

"I threw a book at him."

Another barking laugh burst through the tavern. "A book! I should have known."

"Actually," Diego added in hindsight, "I threw it at his gun, hard enough for the bullet to miss Victoria. It must have hit the bottle in her hands instead."

"How did he get tied up?"

Diego was just realizing what he might have unintentionally revealed by fighting Bishop. "He was going to shoot Victoria! It was awful the last time it happened. So I did what I had to do."

"Which was?"

"I jumped on him, he lost his balance, we fell to the floor, he punched me several times, in the chin, I think. I bit my tongue. Then I punched him, knocked his head against the floor to stun him, flipped him over, and tied him up."

"All by yourself?" De Soto looked amazed.

Affronted, Diego scowled. "Of course by myself!" The Alcalde's incredulous stare prompted him to add a dismissive shrug. "I've seen Zorro do it hundreds of times." A weary glance across the tavern cemented the image he was trying to enforce. "I hope I find my book; it's rare."

"Yes, you surely lost your page." De Soto's disdain was enhanced by his natural sarcasm.

Diego again took on an affronted look. "The man intended to shoot Victoria. Surely that warrants some jail time!"

"Indeed it does," De Soto said. "Mendoza, take him to the cuartel. De la Vega too. Lancers!"

"What?" Diego gasped as the soldiers roughly yanked him towards the door. He planted his feet to stop them.

"Diego didn't do anything!" Victoria loudly objected. Diego was grateful for such vocal support, but the Alcalde was determined.

"He has admitted to being in a tavern brawl, Señorita," De Soto impatiently explained. "To say nothing of his confession of actions closely resembling those of your 'friend,' Zorro."

"And that means that I'm Zorro? That's ridiculous!" Diego automatically yelled as the lancers once more hauled him two steps farther before he was again able to halt their movement. "What was I supposed to do? Let the man shoot Victoria because doing anything to stop him might make me look like Zorro?" He stood up to his full height, a move that almost pulled the detaining lancers off their feet. "If that's the case, then I'll gladly say I'm Zorro!"

"Diego, don't be stupid; he'll hang you!" Victoria hollered, propping an elbow against the floor to help her sit up.

Diego stared avidly at Victoria. "I saved you."

De Soto quickly added, "And only Zorro does anything to save the Señorita, so you must be Zorro."

Diego shook his head at the governmental man's twisted logic, but the fact that Victoria looked truly distraught at the idea of his arrest was the most heartening thing Diego had witnessed in years. "If saving you means declaring I'm Zorro, then that's what I'll do."

"I won't let you!" she yelled back.

"How touching," De Soto growled in disgust. "However, you clearly aren't in a position to allow anything, Señorita." The Alcalde gave a jerk of his head to his men. "Let's go!"

Mendoza and several lancers converged on Bishop to untie him and lead him to the jail, but halted after only a few fruitless minutes of fiddling with the sash.

De Soto quickly lost his patience waiting for them. "What's taking so long?"

Mendoza pulled again on the knotted sash. "I'm sorry, mi Alcalde, but… I can't untie him."

De Soto roughly shoved the milling crowd aside. "Let me do it."

Mendoza moved away just as De Soto drew abreast of him, or he would have been unceremoniously shoved aside, too. The Alcalde then spent the next several minutes uselessly tugging at the intricate knots. Finally, he stood up to glare at Diego. "What did you do? I can't fix this mess!"

Diego moved an irritated step forward. "I'll do it."

The Alcalde gave an ill-disguised snort of humor, obviously thinking that the tight knots were a mistake. "Be my guest."

Knowing exactly what to do, Diego loosened his sash securing Bishop to the pillar and hauled him to his feet by grasping the material holding the gambler's hands pinioned behind his back. Bishop wriggled furiously the entire time. Unimpressed, Diego muttered, "Hold still, Señor, or I will club you unconscious."

More lancers subdued Bishop while Alcalde De Soto gaped at Diego. "How did you do that?" His eyes narrowed in speculation. " _Are_ you Zorro?"

"You think everybody's Zorro," Diego casually noted. "But in this case, it's all in the wrist." He gave a flick of his delicate wrist right under De Soto's nose. "All I did was untie a knot."

"A damned elaborate knot!"

"That doesn't make me Zorro."

"You just admitted you were that outlaw!"

"For Victoria, yes."  
"Untie his feet so he can walk to the cuartel." Challenge glinted in the Alcalde's eyes.

"Untie him yourself." Diego met Victoria's gaze, silently telling her that he would be all right, then stalked out of the tavern straight to the cuartel gates and his future incarceration.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Two hours later, Diego admitted to himself that he was growing bored. His wet clothes quickly dried in the warm California air, and once fairly comfortable again, the boredom became just as suffocating as the hot air. Now that he was in jail, occupying one cell while an irate Bishop occupied the other, the adrenaline that had flooded his body during the altercation with the gambler had vanished in a rush. He had felt weak at first, shaky with leftover energy, then relieved, and finally bored out of his mind.

Diego crossed his arms as he leaned against the stone wall beside the bunk in his cell, calmly regarding Bishop, who paced his cell like a caged tiger.

At long last, Diego couldn't stand it any longer. "Sit down, Señor."

Bishop's sneer was immediately in evidence. "Or else?"

"Or else the Alcalde will knock you down."

"That overgrown preener! He doesn't scare me."

Diego rolled his eyes at the predictable bravado of Bishop's reply. "He _should_ scare you. Ignacio De Soto may be a preener, but he does not suffer foolish bandits for long."

"I'm no fool. I'm no bandit, either."

The predictability of this man was truly appalling. "Your shooting attempt today proves otherwise."

"Ha! If you want to talk about bandits, you're the one who said he was Zorro."

Diego let his blandest expression settle on his face. "Do I look like Zorro?"

"You sure punch like him!" Bishop rubbed his jaw for dramatic effect.

"I didn't just punch you," Diego casually replied. "I knocked your head into the floor."

The rubbing now transferred to his head. "Yeah, and that hurt! Might have crippled me for life."

"I clearly didn't hit it hard enough to knock any sense into you."

"Your Alcalde will never trust your word over mine; he thinks you're Zorro."

"I'm not Zorro, I'm a caballero."

"'Caballero' just means you're a rich thug!"

"If I'm a thug, what does that make you?"

Bishop's following smile was as icy as his open hostility. "I'm just an honest gambler passing through."

Diego jerked forward at the word 'honest.' "You're a common criminal who almost shot a good friend of mine!" His eyes narrowed again in barely controlled fury. "Don't expect me to easily forget that."

"Don't threaten me, Caballero!"

"Are you going to shoot me next?"

Bishop's disdain was obvious. "I would make short work of you."

"Making short work of anyone in this pueblo will just bring out Zorro. You'll find dealing with him is not so simple."

"I've already dealt with him, and it was easier than you think."

"As I recall, you were thrashed within an inch of your life, then hounded out of town."

Bishop's twisted smile was particularly unnerving. "Threatened, thrashed, run out of town… but not killed. Zorro never kills; everyone knows that. So I'm perfectly safe."

Stunned, Diego's nonchalance cracked just a fraction. He attempted to recover quickly, but having one of his personal life mottos thrown in his face was rattling. "He may not have killed yet," Diego choked, "but you can never know when he might turn his threats into reality."

A guffaw blasted out of the gambler. "Zorro might threaten to kill, but to actually do it? Don't make me laugh!"

Internal balance restored, Diego eyed him coldly. "So certain of that, are you?"

"You bet I am. I wouldn't have returned if I wasn't sure I'd be safe."

"How does threatening to kill Señorita Escalante make you safe?"

The gloating look returned. "I can threaten all I want. In fact, I can _do_ all I want. Zorro won't do anything to me."

Could this man really be that stupid? "You're saying that you can do any audacious thing you want, that Zorro won't give any reprisal?"

Now Bishop's smile grew smug.

Diego crossed his arms in a show of unconcern when he was secretly very concerned. "So you're really saying that because it's a well known fact that Zorro doesn't kill, every criminal in the Los Angeles area, including you, feels a certain amount of…" What was the right word? "... freedom?"

Bishop's smile was downright condescending. "You're finally seeing the light, de la Vega."

Diego felt as if he was indeed seeing the light. In all his years as Zorro, not once had he thought to view the Zorro legend through the eyes of the criminals he brought to justice. He was finally beginning to understand why Los Angeles seemed to be a mecca for every bandit in California: they all knew they needn't fear death at Zorro's hand. True, they could be captured and hung, but the lancers of the Los Angeles garrison were ineffective at best, inept at worst. The risk to life and limb was minimal compared to what they could accomplish by plundering the pueblo of Los Angeles.

"There's one hole in your theory, though, Bishop," Diego noted at last.

Arrogantly confident, Bishop continued to smile his aggravating smile. "And what's that?"

Diego pushed himself off the wall he leaned against to stand up straight and tall, lending weight to his words. "There are things worse than death, Señor."

The smile grew lopsided as Bishop considered Diego's words. "I think I'll take my chances."

Diego gave a melodramatic sigh. "You better hope you're right."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning: have you ever seen the inside of a prison such as Devil's Fortress?"

"There isn't a prison that can hold me."

Diego snorted a laugh. "That's easy for you to say. I've been to Devil's Fortress." He didn't elaborate as to how or why. "The prisoners who had been there for twenty or thirty years once thought as you do. Now they know differently."

But Bishop was adamant. "Zorro doesn't kill, and I only shot _at_ Señorita Escalante. They don't do more than keep you in the local jail for taking pot shots at someone."

Diego sighed, indicating his shortening patience. "Zorro isn't exactly logical when dealing with someone who threatens the Señorita."

Bishop's amused bark was nothing less than galling. "The worst he'll do is give me to the lancers, who will throw me in jail. No jail or prison has ever held me for more than a month, so I have nothing to worry about."

Diego's nonchalance was more frightening than if he had yelled. "Maybe, but Zorro does capture an impressive amount of banditos."

"Like I said before, capture doesn't frighten me."

The man's bravado certainly seemed genuine. Either he was the bravest man Diego had ever laid eyes on, or the dumbest. "Zorro may not kill the average criminal, but you've knowingly targeted his-" He'd been about to say 'his fiance,' but Victoria's and Zorro's engagement was hardly common knowledge.

"She's his _girlfriend_ ," Bishop finished for him. "His lady love, his paramour, his-"

Diego held up a hand to stop him. "Yes, yes, I get the picture."

"She's the one thing sure to get his attention."

Alarmed again, Diego tried to restrain his growing dismay at the target that Victoria represented. "And why would you possibly want to gain his attention?"

"Because once I've got it, I plan to kill him."

"Just like that, eh?"

"Yeah, just like that. He'll never see me coming."

"Really?" Diego drawled in narrow-eyed disbelief. "Do you think he's stupid?"

Again came Bishop's spine chilling laugh. "Señor de la Vega, I'm counting on it."

Using more nonchalance to cover the fact that this was truly disturbing news, Diego stifled a yawn to show how bored he'd grown and laid down on the bunk, stretching the length of the bed. "You're braver than I am to call the attention of that man. I sure wouldn't use Victoria against him, either."

"Then it's a good thing you're not me."

"Maybe." Diego didn't sound convinced. "But nothing makes Zorro angrier than someone trying to harm Victoria."

"An angry man makes mistakes."

"That's true. However, the past shows that when that man is Zorro, anger only makes his justice that much more deadly."

"I have nothing to fear from a man dressed in a _mask._ " The way he said it, wearing a mask was a definite sign of a weak individual.

"Whatever. Your blustering is giving me a headache. Zorro will either kill you, or he won't, or you'll wish he had. It has nothing to do with me."

Bishop's amusement was equally disparaging. "I have as much to worry about from _him_ as I do from _you._ "

Diego gave Bishop an amazed stare. "Are you really that dumb?"

Bishop started up at the slur to his character. "Watch your mouth, Señor, or I'll watch it for you… right off your face."

As threats went, Diego had heard far worse as Zorro. "You simply don't wish to face the obvious."

That fully irritating sneer was back. "What's the obvious, _Señor?"_

Diego closed his eyes in complete disregard. "That if he doesn't kill you, I will."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Five silent minutes later, Don Alejandro suddenly burst into the jail.

"Diego!" he yelled, and Diego jumped up from his bunk to meet his father at the cell door. Alejandro wrapped his fingers so tightly around the bars that his knuckles turned white. "I heard what happened from Sergeant Mendoza. The Alcalde wouldn't let me in to see you until now, and I could only induce him to let us visit for a few minutes. So talk fast."

Diego didn't waste breath on a greeting after he heard that. "This man was going to shoot Victoria, and… I couldn't let that happen."

"Of course you couldn't!" Alejandro exclaimed, looking both pained and proud at the same time. "You're a true de la Vega."

Diego was astonished to hear such an admittance from his exacting father. "I don't think you've ever said that."

"Victoria's safety comes first, no matter the situation. Of course you couldn't abandon her just when she needed help the most." Don Alejandro threw a lip-curling expression towards Bishop in the other cell before turning back to Diego. "But what's this I hear about you being Zorro?"

Diego blanched. "Oh, that."

"Yes, that. De Soto said something about hanging you in a few days." Alejandro's voice rose with his increasing anxiety level. "I've never heard anything so preposterous!"

Diego didn't know if his father thought his claim to be Zorro was preposterous, or the idea of hanging a de la Vega was preposterous, but he didn't ask. "I said what I had to say at the time. De Soto wouldn't believe that I did what I did otherwise."

"And what did you do?"

Bishop sneeringly interjected, "He threw a book at me, the nerd. As if a book can stop me!"

Diego balefully eyed Bishop. "It was enough to stop you today."

"That didn't stop me," Bishop brusquely argued. "It ruined my aim, that's all."

The breath rushed out of Diego. "It was enough to save Victoria, and that's stopping you in my book. Now shut up; I'm speaking to my father."

The astonished Alejandro automatically supported his suddenly assertive son. "You did exactly what you should have done, definitely what the situation called for." He sent another scathing glance Bishop's way before beaming at Diego. "Victoria's life is certainly worth a little jail time."

"But this is going to be more than a little jail time," Diego mournfully corrected, referring to the overall situation. "I'm so glad you're here! Can you get a message to our lawyer?"

Alejandro sighed in resignation. "I'll try, certainly, but it will be hard to get a message out; the Alcalde already has the hacienda under guard."

" _What?_ Why?"

"He says it's for our protection, but I think it's some hairbrained scheme of his to capture Zorro's accomplices."

Diego infused his voice with as much disbelief as he could. "He really _does_ think I'm Zorro."

Don Alejandro eyed his son. "Perhaps claiming that you're Zorro was not the wisest thing you've ever done."

But Diego was adamant. "I did what I had to do. Victoria's worth it."

Alejandro stared at him out of wide eyes. "What happened to my studious son? You developed the makings of a hero over lunch!"

Abashed, Diego shook his head. "I'm no hero. All I really did was throw a book." Now was not the time to relate how he'd then jumped the gambler, beat him senseless, and proceeded to tie him up like a trussed chicken.

Alejandro grunted, then said to Bishop, "I always knew there would be trouble if you ever came back to this pueblo. You certainly found it."

Bishop sneered for the millionth time, not remotely moved by the family reunion going on right before him. "I'm here for Zorro, not this puppy." He threw Diego a contemptuous look.

Alejandro could not let an insult like that go unanswered. "The de la Vegas are no puppies! You'll-"

"Father," Diego interrupted. "Don't give him the satisfaction of even noticing him."

"But he's the man who killed my friend Don Carlos!"

Bishop curled his lips. "And I'm going to kill your son, too, old man!"

Moving so that his father had to turn his back to the gambler in order to see his son, Diego regained his attention. "Father, I need your help. We both know De Soto. I-"

And that was when De Soto himself sauntered into the jail, followed by Victoria. White bandages entirely encased her right hand, and a few more loosely wrapped the shallow cuts on her left, leaving it protected, yet mobile. It still made it impossible for her to grab the bars as Don Alejandro had. But to Diego, seeing her alive and more or less healthy was like a gift from God.

"You certainly do need help, de la Vega," the Alcalde said in confident tones. "Or should I call you Zorro?"

Before Diego could even formulate a reply, Victoria showed her own support. "Of course Diego's not Zorro! He's too… not Zorro! Why can't you see that?"

Diego didn't know if he should be hurt by Victoria's dim view of him, or grateful for the timing of her words. Either way, Bishop aggressively overrode any comment.

"He threatened to kill me!" The gambler pointed a finger shaking with rage at Diego. "By all rights, you have to do something, Alcalde!"

De Soto sauntered over to Bishop's cell to casually regard him through the bars. "I don't know what to think of you."

Diego firmly said, "He tried to kill Victoria. What more do you need to know?"

"That's just it." De Soto gave his goatee a thoughtful rub. "Many witnesses at the tavern swear they heard a gunshot this afternoon, but we can't find the bullet. Until we do…"

Victoria snarled, "He shot at me. If not for Diego, I'd be dead. You should hang him!"

Diego was slightly astonished at Victoria's bloodthirsty leanings. "Victoria, I don't think-"

"And you, saying you're Zorro!" She whirled on Diego. "Have you gone crazy?"

Diego calmly confronted the tavern owner. "You're worth any repercussions."

"But he'll hang you!" she yelled, aghast, and tried to grab the bars with her right hand only to be stymied by her bandages. Instead, she pawed the bars with her left as a look of absolute agony twisted her features. "You can't possibly think I'm worth that!"

Diego transferred his fingers to wrap around as much of Victoria's bandaged hand as he could in one of the few times he'd actually touched her. "You're worth anything, least of all a rare book or a hanging decree."

Victoria was speechless by this bald admission, but De Soto wasn't. "If you're not Zorro, you're certainly doing your best to sound like you are."

Alejandro faced the Alcalde, glaring. "Meaning what?"

De Soto glared back. "Meaning that only Zorro would dare say such things to the Señorita. She's his, as Diego well knows. Either he's suddenly decided to play with fire, or…" He wheezed his disbelief. "Diego de la Vega really _is_ Zorro."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Diego didn't have time to formulate any kind of response to the Alcalde's disturbing accusation.

De Soto brusquely ordered, "Sergeant, show Don Alejandro and Señorita Escalante out. It's time to interrogate this _gambler._ " And he waved dismissively at Bishop as if he didn't believe a single one of his professional claims.

The Sergeant began to follow his orders, but Diego stopped him, begging, "Please, Ignacio, I've barely spoken to Victoria. Let her stay a minute." He understood that such a plea would make him appear more like Zorro than ever, but he couldn't stop himself from making it any more than he could stop himself from breathing.

De Soto merely sent another curt gesture towards Bishop's cell, and Mendoza hurried to open it for the Alcalde while the governmental man raked over Diego with his gaze. "All right, de la Vega, I can be agreeable, despite public opinion. Of course," he smirked, "this just goes a bit further in proving that you're who you say you are. So take your time." He turned as the lancers tied Bishop's hands tightly behind his back and pulled him out of his cell. With obvious malice, the Alcalde said, "Make one wrong move, Señor, and you'll wish Diego really had killed you this afternoon."

Diego briefly met Bishop's gaze, as if to say 'I told you he's no pushover.' But he couldn't afford to give any more precious time to Bishop, and firmly moved his attention to Victoria.

Taking up where Sergeant Mendoza had left off, De Soto shoved, cajoled, and threatened everyone except the Señorita out of the tiny jail. Alejandro ardently protested, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Mendoza threw a sorrowful glance at his incarcerated friend, then firmly closed the door leading to the Alcalde's office.

The sudden silence felt smothering. Ignoring it, Diego pushed into the bars to get as close to Victoria as he could. "I'm sorry that I couldn't do more to ensure your safety today."

"Don't talk like that," she admonished. "You did more than anybody could have done."

"But you were still hurt, and I'm sorry for that."

"That wasn't your doing! Now stop it. And stop making this insane claim that you're Zorro."

An apologetic look invaded his eyes. "I can't do that, even if Ignacio lets me, and I doubt he will. He's wanted to hang Zorro for so long that he's ceased caring about who he hangs, just so long as he hangs someone."

"But Diego, you can't do this." Victoria began to cry. "I can't lose my best friend in the whole world."

Diego didn't give himself time to feel bad about the way she viewed him as only a friend. "Victoria, please." He didn't elaborate on what it was he wanted her to do, but simply gazed at her in agony.

Victoria softly wailed, "You can't die. I won't let you."

Diego was a little taken aback by her show of such strong emotions. Here she was, crying, clearly upset, and it was all on behalf of _Diego._ He wouldn't have been surprised at such an outburst from her if it was Zorro locked up in jail. But now he reached through the bars to tenderly brush her tears from her cheeks. "Victoria, I need you to listen."

"No, you listen," she tearfully insisted. "I've never told you how important you are to me, Diego."

A small smile curved his lips. "I think you're telling me now."

Her face fell into lines of anguish. "Don't joke at a time like this."

"I'm not joking."

"Neither am I." She stared mournfully at him. "I can't do this without you."

This truly mistified him. "Do what?"

"I can't… can't wait, can't live… not if you're not there to talk to every day." Her face crumpled again. "Don't do this, Diego! Please take back what you said."

"And let Bishop finish what he started today?" Diego gave his head a violent shake. "We both know how charming he can be. He'll sweet talk Ignacio into letting him go, and then you won't be safe anywhere. Bishop told me that he wants to get Zorro's attention through you."

"But why?"

Diego shrugged. "He said something about wanting to kill Zorro."

Her barking laugh told him what she thought of that. "Zorro can take care of himself."

"And I can't?"

Victoria's expression immediately grew pained. "He's not the man behind bars right now."

 _Yes he is._ A breathless moment passed as Diego wildly considered saying it out loud. He'd wanted to tell Victoria the truth more than anything for years now, and here was his chance. All he had to do was take it. He drew a deep breath in preparation for telling her his secret at last, when what she said next stunned the breath right out of him.

"I love you, Diego."

 _What?_ "Uh…" Diego gave a numbed blink, her words reverberating around his head so loudly that he was unable to concentrate.

Victoria's sorrow increased tenfold. "I love you." She shook her head back and forth as if trying to shake out the truth. "I know that sounds rehearsed, and unlikely, and…"

Dazed by fog shrouding his mind, he breathlessly whispered, "Are you serious?"

Her laugh of self-mockery grated in the jail's emptiness. "I know what you're thinking; how could I possibly love both Zorro and you, two such different men? I even wanted you to become more like Zorro so what I felt for you made sense." She gave a disparaging shrug. "But now I can't imagine you as anybody other than who you are."

Another blink gave him a few more precious seconds to make sense of what she was saying. "You love me?" He'd waited for years to hear her say those words, yet he couldn't believe them once she did.

Victoria was crying again. "You mean so much to me! If you die, I die."

"I guess I won't die then."

"But how can you stop it?" she cried.

"I don't know yet," Diego confessed. "But I know I want to keep you safe, and I may be forced to harm Bishop in order to do that."

Exasperated, she repeated, "I've already explained to you that I'm not worth it."

"And I've already explained to you that you're everything, so of course you're worth it." The admission, stated without thought, was more freeing to Diego than fearful, as if a huge weight had unexpectedly lifted from his shoulders.

"But how can you keep me safe when you're inside a jail cell?"

It was as if she was purposely giving him another opportunity to tell her his secret in order to soothe her anxiety. It also occurred to him that a lancer must be posted just outside the window to his cell so that he could eavesdrop on his and Victoria's every word. If that was the case, it cast her admittance of love into a whole new light.

He gripped the bars tighter. "Victoria, listen to me for a minute. Since my father's hacienda is surrounded, I need you to get word of what's happening here to our lawyer in Santa Paula. Tell my father to write a letter to him, giving all the particulars, but you must bring him here. Don't leave Santa Paula without him. I only have a day, maybe two before…" He couldn't finish, but it was clear what he meant.

Victoria gave a quiet wail. "Diego!

He hated to see such anguish clouding her eyes. "Sh! It's going to be fine, Victoria, it has to be. But I don't trust Bishop. Keep your eye on him at all times, and please stay safe."

Silent tears coursed unchecked down Victoria's cheeks, but she managed to nod. "I will, Diego."

"The idea of sending you out again with him even in the same pueblo as you…" The thought gave him chills.

"I… I won't go anywhere alone. I'll stay at the mission."

"Good idea. Let Mendoza help. And I love you too." He rushed his last comment, afraid that he would lose the nerve to say it at the last moment. He doubted that he'd get another chance. "I don't care if I _am_ playing with fire. I want you to know, in case…"

"No," she simply said. "Then I'll die too."

"That can't happen!" Diego was upset himself now. "If it does, then I… then you…" He would be gone, and there would be no Zorro to save her. The bleakness of that reality took his breath away. "Victoria…" A beautiful, wonderful, painful sorrow blossomed. She loved him… _him_ … the man behind the mask. It was more than he'd ever hoped for… now that there really was no hope.

At last, he choked, "Promise me, you'll look after my father and Felipe."

"Diego, it won't come to-"

"Promise!"

She nodded. "I promise."

"I know Father will always be there for you if I… can't."

More silent tears streaked her face. She leaned her head into the bars, mirroring Diego's stance. "Diego de la Vega, I…"

Diego couldn't maintain his proud facade any longer, and a sob curled inside him. "All these years, I felt - I was helping - by making sure you were safe - though I always loved you."

Abruptly the door to the Alcalde's office flew open so hard that it cracked against the wall, making Diego and Victoria jump. Bishop sauntered in, looking maddeningly smug. "No bullet, no crime. I told you he wouldn't hold me." He purposely crowded Victoria, who automatically shrank against the cell bars lest she touch him.

Diego hated the way Bishop seemed to relish in making Victoria cringe. Anger instantly surged. The Alcalde's twisted logic suddenly exhausted him as antipathy for Zorro swamped him. He reviled the way he'd had to play the lethargic caballero for years. But mostly he despised Bishop. "Don't treat Victoria like that." Grabbing Bishop's vest in an iron fist, he yanked the gambler hard into the bars. With a sickening crack, Bishop's head collided with them. Diego released him and Bishop slumped unconscious to the ground. "I warned you not to trifle with me, Señor."

A smile hovered at the edges of Victoria's lips at the same time that a flurry of activity erupted around Bishop's prone form. Mendoza solicitously assisted another lancer in dragging him away from Diego's cell prior to lifting him for an unexpected trip to Dr. Hernandez. De Soto unapologetically clubbed the area where Diego's fingers still wrapped around the bars, but Diego was too fast for him. He released the bars a split second before De Soto's pistol butt landed on the spot where Diego's fingers had just been.

All the while, Diego refused to be so helpless, surreptitiously hissing to Victoria, " _Find the bullet!"_

By then, several lancers had thrust the butts of their muskets through the bars at Diego to make him back away. Victoria jumped at the noise, De Soto yelled, and the lancers continued to smash the bars with their rifles.

Grinning devilishly, Diego said, "If I'm going to be hung as Zorro anyway, I might as well act like him while I have the chance."

More shouting met his brazen statement, harsh and grating. Anger hindering his every move, the Alcalde roughly pulled his keys out of his pocket and unlocked Diego's cell door, striding in without waiting for any back-up from his lancers. It abruptly occurred to Diego that he might have to fight De Soto if he wanted to avoid a severe beating himself.

But De Soto only wished to lash his hands behind his back with a rope. Diego concentrated on forcing his wrists apart as De Soto's knot mercilessly chafed his smooth skin raw in seconds.

The Alcalde whipped his prisoner back around and shoved him into the wall. "I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes." Diego said nothing, but stared straight at the Alcalde. It was an unprecedented moment of defiance that further riled the man. "Stop staring like that! For a well-known pacifist, you're looking more and more like that criminal Zorro with every passing second."

"What difference does it make?" Diego asked in a voice that was calmly irritating. "You've promised many times to hang any man thought to be Zorro. What have I got to lose at this point if I act like him?" He paused to consider. "It's rather liberating, actually. I've never known how good it feels to give in to your baser instincts." He flashed a saucy grin at De Soto. "Perhaps I'll hit _you_ next."

"Perhaps I'll hang you even if you're not Zorro!" De Soto bellowed, shoved Diego onto the cell's single cot, and strode from the cell, slamming the door.

Diego sat back, satisfied at the scene he'd just created. All his theatrics had served the dual purpose of rattling De Soto and freeing Victoria, who had slowly backed away from the bars, forgotten in the ensuing confusion. She'd slipped unnoticed through the door to the Alcalde's office, clearly intent on leaving the cuartel while everyone was otherwise engaged in dealing with the suddenly violent Diego. In the next second, she had disappeared like smoke.

Diego understood that he had just given her the necessary time to search for the missing bullet that he alone knew existed. Meanwhile, he could count on Felipe to outwit the lancers surrounding the de la Vega hacienda to join Victoria, maybe even to get a second message to their lawyer.

Diego's smile broadened. Though he was incarcerated and bound and slated to hang, he'd just sent De Soto a stinging slap of defiance, hadn't needed Zorro to do it, and Victoria loved _him_. Life was perfect.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Diego sat unmoving in the quiet cell, his thoughts devolving more and more into chaos as the day wore on. Siesta came and went, but he didn't notice, nor did he notice how the ropes continued to cut painfully into his wrists. He didn't once think of Bishop. Instead, what Victoria had confessed filled his thoughts to the exclusion of all else.

She loved him.

That thought made him stupid with sappy affection, but he didn't care. He would care later, when faced with an unrelenting hangman's noose, but now his every dream had come true.

The euphoria of that development lasted for hours. Darkness wreathed the cuartel in shadows when the reality of the situation abruptly reasserted itself to come crashing down on his head.

The door to the Alcalde's office swung aside and De Soto stalked in, carrying a glowing lantern. The light made Diego frantically blink back sudden tears, but he didn't have any trouble hearing De Soto. "I can't hang you for murder."

Eyes clearing, Diego asked, "Bishop lives?"

De Soto scowled his confirmation.

In answer to that expression, Diego sarcastically replied, "You look unhappy that you can't call me a murderer as well as an outlaw."

"You may not be a murderer, but I still plan to hang you as an outlaw, caballero or not."

"I would expect nothing less of you." This news about Bishop's life, while interesting, was in actuality little more than an interrupting irritant. "Now, unless you plan to give me my freedom, don't bother me." Dismissing De Soto, Diego returned his thoughts to the much more alluring subject of Victoria.

De Soto hated being ignored, as Diego well knew. "She'll never leave that brigand, especially not for the likes of _you_."

Diego's face grew slack once more, giving no further information. "If you think that my private information becoming public knowledge has somehow demoralized me, think again. In fact, publish it in the newspaper. Unless my lawyer has come, I say again, go-"

"She may love you for now," De Soto sneered, "but it won't last. I guarantee you a short lovelife, de la Vega!"

Finally arrested by De Soto's derisive tone, Diego looked more closely at the man. "I don't believe it," he softly exclaimed, noting the light in the Alcalde's eyes. "You're jealous."

De Soto's bark of laughter exploded into the quiet jail. "Of that harpy? I don't think so!"

If insulting Victoria was meant to further enrage Diego, it didn't work. "You're jealous of _me_."

"The day I'm jealous of a bore like Diego de la Vega is the day I fly back to Spain."

Diego brightened. "I have several explosives that will throw you all the way to Madrid if you need the help."

De Soto's wheezy chuckle burst through the silence. "I'd like to see you try."

"Don't tempt me."

Confidence oozed from De Soto. "Your hands are tied behind your back. I'm not worried."

"I would be if I were you."

"I tied the knots."

"Precisely."

Successfully rankled, De Soto frowned. "You have one more day, loverboy. If we don't find that bullet by then, I don't care if you're related to the king of Spain himself - you hang. Even loose knots can't help you then." His frown deepened to a sneer once more, making him look alarmingly like Bishop. "That _harpy_ certainly won't."

Angered at last, Diego's eyes snapped with barely controlled fury. "Leave her out of this."

The Alcalde snickered. "Hit a nerve, did I?"

"Why Zorro hasn't hounded you from the pueblo yet is a mystery."

"Who says he hasn't tried and failed?"

"I say. Remember, according to you, I'm Zorro."

"According to _you,"_ De Soto corrected in delight. "I might just have to hang that harpy alongside you for good measure."

The expression on Diego's face darkened. "Touch one hair on her head, and I'll make sure your death is as slow and painful as I can make it."

De Soto wheezed a second laugh. "What's happened to you, de la Vega? Did you wake up this morning and suddenly develop a backbone?"

Diego glared back at him. "Bishop's threat to shoot Victoria woke me up."

"Technically Bishop did nothing terribly illegal."

"Nothing illegal," Diego gasped into the silence. "He almost shot Victoria!"

"Almost shooting someone is very different from actually doing it."

"I don't believe this!" Diego yelled in disgust. "I'm beginning to see the value of a good revolution, especially if it gets you out of office."

De Soto's expression grew to mirror Diego's. "If there's a revolt, I'll know just who to hang for starting it."

"How can I start anything while stuck in here?"

"Not you, your traitorous father."

"Father would never start a revolt against Spain. But who's to say that Zorro won't? Maybe he should be leading that revolt instead of just humiliating you over and over again."

That wiped some of the arrogance off the Alcalde's face. "We'll see how insolent you are when I hang Don Alejandro right beside his revolutionary son."

Diego's eyes narrowed in astonishment. "Do you think the Spanish throne will support you no matter what outlandish action you take?"

"As far as it matters, I _am_ the Spanish throne here!"

Was he really as stupid as Bishop? "I bet King Ferdinand would love to hear you say that. It'll give him a good laugh, right before he has you drawn and quartered."

"Ha! You forget that I was specifically chosen for this assignment by the king himself."

"The king must have been half asleep that day."

Frustration that Diego was not as impressed as he clearly thought he should be shadowed De Soto's expression. "I was chosen for my obvious skills, de la Vega!"

"Skills that we have yet to see, Alcalde."

De Soto's lip curled. "I remind you that it's hard to act so righteous when on the wrong end of a hangman's noose."

Diego's eyes widened in incredulity. "Ignacio, surely you realize that you're only as powerful as the people allow you to be."

"Nobody _allows_ me to be anything, de la Vega. Hanging you will only prove that!"

"You're deluded if you think hanging me will solve all your problems."

De Soto's familiar lip curl was back. "If I'm so deluded, untying my knots should be a simple thing for you, yet you're still my prisoner."

"What do knots have to do with any of this?"

But instead of explaining, the Alcalde simply gave his head a scornful shake. "You're just a man, de la Vega, and a spineless one at that. Even _if_ you convince the people to listen to your insane ideas, they'll think twice as soon as they're facing a lancer's rifle."

"And if you're so sure of yourself, why come in here just to bait me?" It was Diego who shook his head this time. "You're worried, Ignacio, and it shows."

"Worried?" De Soto derisively laughed. "I finally have Zorro in my jail. What can I possibly have to be worried about?"

"You're worried that I'm only claiming to be Zorro for Victoria's sake. You're worried that hanging me won't do any good, because the real Zorro is still at large, and very likely extremely angry. Plus, no matter how much you deny it, you're jealous that someone loves a man you think is a bore instead of preferring you. So by all means, Ignacio, bait me if it makes you feel better. But you're still worried, and it still shows."

"And you're still a bore, de la Vega, a dull, poetry-loving, scientific nerd."

"You know that calling me names just lends credibility to what I'm saying."

"You _should_ be saying your prayers!" The Alcalde thumped the bars for good measure. "You hang in twenty-four hours."

Diego gave a nonchalant shrug. "Hang me if you want. But your worries won't be over, no matter how powerful you think you are."

"I'm going to bed, de la Vega, in my own bed, on this side of the bars," De Soto snarled in lieu of replying. "Enjoy your night in jail." Without giving Diego the chance to respond, he vanished into his office, shutting the door firmly behind him.

He'd run away, before anything untoward could happen; how typical.

Diego stared out into the darkness converging quickly on the now silent jail, struggling to make shapes of the doors and furnishings. The skimpy blankets on the cell's only bunk seemed wholly uninviting, but the dark gave him no options but to think or go to sleep. De Soto had taken the lantern with him when he left, and only the moonlight streaming into the cell broke the monotony, making strange patterns on the floor.

Diego contemplated sleep for a second, but quickly found himself dwelling on the Alcalde instead, thoughts of the man's jealousy paramount in his mind. He didn't expect that De Soto was jealous of his chosen love; the Alcalde had shown nothing but antipathy for Victoria on many occasions. Diego was simply astonished that De Soto was jealous of him at all. In the past, he'd gone out of his way to highlight the uselessness of the de la Vega heir, as if by emphasizing traits that he deemed pointless, Diego would seem less important, thus increasing his own importance at the same time. Diego might have been unaware of De Soto's feelings while at the University of Madrid, but there was no doubt of the envy he felt for his fellow student once De Soto had come to Los Angeles. He insulted Diego every chance he got, both to the townspeople at large and to his father in particular.

And now came the ultimate insult; Diego had obviously secured love where the more typically handsome Ignacio De Soto was still floundering. Not only had he secured someone's love, but that someone turned out to be the paramour of his most hated enemy. It must be galling to De Soto, making him cringe whenever he thought about it. No wonder he predicted an early demise for such affection.

The contemplation made Diego send a very satisfied smile to the cloying shadows on the floor.

The door to the cuartel courtyard abruptly opened and a lancer strutted in, coming to a halt just outside Diego's cell. He smartly settled his rifle butt into his hands, the barrel resting against his left shoulder. The man said not a word, but instead stood at attention, his tall hat shadowing his eyes as he stared over Diego's head at a point on the far wall near the barred window.

Ah, a soldier set to guard the prisoner. Diego wondered what they were guarding him from. Did they anticipate that he'd try to escape? Diego de la Vega had been imprisoned many times, and not once had he attempted an escape. He hadn't even been rescued by Zorro. Of course, now that he'd claimed to be the famous outlaw, certain precautions must be expected. He was fairly surprised that they had assigned only one man to guard him. Should he feel slighted?

Diego leaned back against the wall behind him once again, still thinking about the Alcalde, about Victoria, and about himself. He was determined not to ruin this time by thoughts of Bishop, or the fate that awaited him in only twenty-four hours. In his experience, a lot could happen in such a short time.

He was still happily dwelling thirty minutes later when the guard suddenly arrested his attention.

That single lancer on duty hissed a heavy sigh into the silent jail, a most unnatural show of boredom for a soldier. Next, he shifted his balance from foot to foot, dancing out what must have been stiff muscles. When no one came to investigate the noise he was making, Diego assumed the lancers and Alcalde were fast asleep. At last, the guarding lancer reached slowly for the cell keys dangling from a hook set high on the far wall.

His attention successfully captured now, Diego watched as the lancer quietly inserted the proper key into the cell lock and turned. The door swung open with only a light squeal as the lancer stepped into the moonlight. Brown eyes met Diego's piercing gaze.

"Felipe!" Diego softly exclaimed.

Felipe immediately placed his finger to his lips, indicating the need for silence.

Diego rose and moved forward to whisper, "How did you get in here?"

Felipe gestured that he'd snuck into the cuartel's barracks, secured a lancer's uniform, stolen one of the high hats, and then it was a simple job to make sure to be available for guard duty. From there, it had been almost child's play.

"That was dangerous, Felipe, and you know it," Diego immediately chastised. "What if you had been discovered? You know the penalty for impersonating a royal lancer. Still…" His smile belayed the previous statement. "I'm glad you're here. Well done."

Felipe's smile was somewhat tremulous, as if he'd been unsure of his father's reception to his daring deeds, but basked in the praise nonetheless. He pulled Diego through the cell door, and together they peeked into the empty courtyard. They fell back against the wall as a lancer approached, whistling, then disappeared into the barracks. Both breathed in relief until silence reigned once again.

Felipe's gestures making no sound, he asked Diego what he planned to do now.

His whisper barely ruffling the air, Diego replied, "Now that you've freed me, I plan to take a look myself at the crime scene." He squinted thoughtfully out the door. "The fact that Bishop wants to lure Zorro into the open by attacking Victoria doesn't make any sense. Does the man want a rematch? But that would only invite another beating. And why can't they find a bullet that should be most obvious? There's clearly something else going on here."

Felipe shrugged his shoulders inside his uniform, then gestured at Diego's bound hands, asking how he planned to accomplish all this while restrained.

In answer, Diego drew his hands to his sides, tossing the rope to the floor. "I've been free for hours, but I didn't want Ignacio to know. He thinks I'm Zorro as it is. I don't suppose you thought to bring a disguise for me, too?"

A sly smile enveloped Felipe's expression.

"You brought Zorro's clothes with you? Well done, Felipe." He touched the coated arm in an affectionate grip. "What would I do without you?"

Felipe's smile turned knowing.

Diego agreed with the unstated assessment. "You're right; I would have been hung years ago if it weren't for you. Where did you leave Zorro's clothes?"

Using hand signals that only Diego had ever taken the time to remember, Felipe told him that Zorro's clothes were hidden in the cuartel stables, behind a pile of hay.

"Excellent. I'll be back before another lancer can relieve you, and you can lock me up then. Wish me luck." With that, he quietly slipped through the door to the cuartel, evaded the lancer guarding the empty courtyard, and disappeared into the night.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Zorro crept behind the cuartel stables, skirted the entire town, slipped stealthily to the mission, and from there to the back of the tavern. The door leading to the kitchen was locked, as he'd expected. Without a second thought, he used the edge of Victoria's rain barrell to propel him onto the roof, and vaulted through the kitchen's large upper window.

He moved on cat's feet across the empty kitchen to the curtain leading to the tavern's main room. A quick glance through the chink in the curtain revealed nobody in the main room except Victoria, staring at the bar. Someone had cleaned up the mess Diego's and Bishop's fight had caused earlier that day, and the tavern now gleamed, lighted by more than a dozen candles that made the place glow like the doors had been thrown open on a sunny day. The bright light easily exposed the look of dejection staining Victoria's pretty face.

Also staring hard at the bar, Zorro announced his presence by asking, "What are you looking at?"

Victoria whipped around, her dejection changing to alarm in seconds. She only relaxed when she was certain he was alone. "Zorro! Are you here to help Don Diego escape from jail?"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Señorita," Zorro said in regret. "I'd only make him a fugitive. I'd far rather determine what Bishop is up to. I heard of his attack on you, and that I now owe Don Diego a great debt." He cradled her less injured left hand with his gloved fingers. "I wish I'd been here to help."

"Diego had things under control in no time," Victoria complimented in what was quite possibly the first time she'd ever publicly supported the young don. "He had Bishop tied up faster than the rest of us could react. If I didn't know better, I'd say he had taken lessons from you."

Zorro couldn't suppress his light chuckle. "Maybe he simply pays attention. I'm not here to give lessons anyway. I need to find the bullet. Perhaps you can help."

The reason for Victoria's previous dejection came out then. "Except I can't figure out where it is. I'm sure I was standing right here, talking to Tansy when Bishop shot at me. If the bullet hit the bottle of wine I was holding instead of hitting me, then it should be right here." Victoria gestured at the bottom half of the counter with her bandaged right hand. "But I can't find it, no matter how much light I use."

That explained her use of so many candles. Mirroring her pose, Zorro stared critically at the bar. "You'd think something like a bullet hole would be obvious."

"Yes. But I don't see one."

"I don't, either. Are you sure you're looking in the right place?"

"I think I am."

Zorro glanced towards the rest of the main room. "Don Diego just told me that-"

"You've seen Diego?"

Zorro cocked his eyebrow in a show of exasperation. "It was ridiculously easy to break into the cuartel and speak with him, especially since everybody thinks I'm him, and he's in jail. The Alcalde is already getting sloppy."

"You always did say that overconfidence would be his downfall," Victoria wryly noted.

Zorro's smile was equally as wry. "I guess I should have been saying that to him instead of you."

Victoria's laughter was filled with irony, making it easy for Zorro to guess her opinion. "He wouldn't have listened anyway."

"Well, I'm listening. What can you tell me?"

Victoria instantly grew chagrined. "Not much, I'm afraid. I've already told you what I know."

"You said that you were standing here." Zorro placed his gloved hands on Victoria's arms to move her into position. "Were you facing the door, or the kitchen?"

"The door."

"Then Señorita Caldone must have been facing the kitchen." He moved to stand opposite her, and prepared to tug his gloves from his fingers.

Victoria stopped him. "Tansy kept her riding gloves on while we talked."

Zorro gave a very convincing jerk of surprise. "She did?"

"Yes." Victoria nodded. "It's one of the few things that I'm sure about. It was so hot today! I remember thinking that I would have taken _my_ gloves off if I were her, but of course…" She shrugged dismissively. "To each his own, I guess."

The mask didn't completely conceal the furrows of puzzlement on Zorro's forehead. "But it _is_ odd. Even I want to take my gloves off on a hot day."

"It's just coincidence, isn't it?"

"Maybe." Zorro didn't sound convinced. "You said that you were holding a bottle… who was the wine for?"

A head shake swished Victoria's curls against her back. "I don't know. I'd never seen him before. But Tansy got my attention before I could deliver it."

"She kept you here?"

Victoria's expression emitted tolerant exasperation. "She talked to me, she didn't keep me here."

"You're certain?"

"Absolutely," Victoria said before his comment had fully registered. As soon as it did, her expression grew intolerant. "She's my friend! I'm sure she didn't have anything evil in mind."

Zorro's smile again set her at ease. "I don't mean anything by this, Señorita, but I also don't wish to assume. After all, a man took a shot at you _._ I'd be remiss if I left anything up to chance."

Victoria grinned. "'Remiss.' Now you sound like Diego."

"Speaking of Don Diego… I heard what you said while visiting him in jail today."

Victoria blanched, and her eyes widened, not with fear, but with… guilt? No. With sadness.

"Is it true?" he asked in the most gentle voice he could produce, not wanting to initialize that guilt he'd expected her to feel.

She gazed at him for the longest moment in total silence. Then she gave a reluctant nod. "I'm sorry, Zorro," she wailed in a whisper. "I wish I could lie, but you don't deserve that."

She looked about ready to burst into tears. "Oh, Victoria," he soothed as he gathered her into his arms. "Don't feel bad about it. I'm glad, if you want the truth."

She lifted her head so she could stare at him, uncomprehending. "You mean you're not angry?"

Zorro gave a light laugh. "Angry? How could I be angry? Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken you this long to admit your feelings."

Now she was astonished. "You knew?"

His chuckle was slightly self-deprecating. "I wouldn't be Zorro if I didn't."

"Part of me thinks I should be in awe of your information network, but mostly I'm too grateful."

"You don't have to feel gratitude on my account. What brought on this change?"

Victoria hesitated. "It's not a change so much as a waking up," she finally decided. "One day I realized that you and I have never had a real conversation."

"Sure we have. I ask questions, and you give me answers."

Victoria's sigh was definitely full of irritation. "Helping you with your cause isn't what I mean."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Your hopes, your dreams. I have no idea what you want in life."

"Of course you do. I want justice, the same as you."

She shook her head. "I do want justice, but what I mean is, what do you want to do with your life when your cause is over? Do you want to have children? How many? Where do you want to live? Should I keep the tavern, or sell it? Should I open another one, and where? Should I buy a whole new wardrobe? What about Toronado? Does he-"

"Don't worry about Toronado."

"But that's my point," Victoria argued. "I don't know what to worry about, what to do."

His incredulous laughter punctuated the air. "You don't have to do anything."

Tears sounded in her voice. "So you want me to just sit here and wait till you have to visit the Alcalde, or protest a tax, or-"

"Of course I don't! I expect you to do what you usually do." There was silence for a moment, then he hesitantly asked, "What do you usually do?"

Her laughter was just shy of a sob. "Diego knows."

"You're saying I should ask Don Diego?"

The sob turned to genuine laughter now. "No. But don't you see? Diego's here. You're often… not."

"He's an usurper?" He looked at her, amazed. "I never would have thought that of him."

"Of course he isn't," said an exasperated Victoria. "That's not it. I just mean that he's always here. He's diligent, quiet, unassuming, but brilliant if people would just listen to him for once."

"I listen to him. I just talked to him tonight."

"I don't mean you, but the Alcalde, I guess. The people. His father."

"Don Alejandro? I've always found him to be a very reasonable man."

"Oh, he's reasonable, all right, but to you, and people like you."

"Like me?"

"Men of action, of conviction. He doesn't give Don Diego much respect, and I'm afraid I..." She gave a regretful heave. "I haven't been much better."

"You? You're perfect," he easily refuted. "You must be confused about-"

"No!" She sounded angry now when she elucidated, "I've been… not so nice. He'd understand what I mean."

"I can't imagine you being anything but nice and caring and-"

"But I have been," Victoria persisted. "Not nice, I mean, and to Diego. But even then, I knew that he's just always here, always around, he's doing what he can, he's listening… caring…" Her voice trailed off into a thoughtful silence. "And I've never appreciated him till now."

"You appreciate him?" She nodded, and he continued, "I'll ask again, what changed?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I can't put my finger on any one time. One day I just looked at him… and he seemed different."

Trying not to feel bad about how he was encouraging her to be open about himself, Zorro furrowed his brow under the mask. "Different how?"

And again Victoria shrugged. "I can't tell you what I don't know. He fights injustice in his own way, with words, with his newspaper. He cares… about everyone, though he doesn't fight with a sword. Still, he's the first one to step in between someone and disaster, usually me. He does what you aren't here to do."

"Sounds like I should either recruit him, or retire and let him be Zorro."

Victoria's laugh was again tearfilled. "I think he's been more help to you than any of us know, and he does it so quietly. He's so subtle that the Alcalde never even hears it when he insults him."

Zorro rubbed Victoria's arms in comfort. "All this is interesting, but what does it have to do with you?"

She looked away, definitely guilty now. "I… noticed."

"Him?"

She didn't do anything but nod. "He's always talking to me, and he's so patient. I prattle on, usually about you, and he just… listens."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

She gave a look that said the bad part was coming up. "One day, just as a way to spend a hot afternoon, I asked him what he wants to do with his life, and you know what he said?"

"What?"

"Exactly what you just said."

"Meaning?" There was a hint of apprehension in his voice for the first time.

Victoria ignored it, or missed it entirely, much to Zorro's relief. "We want the same things. But he also wants a family, children, he wants to be the son his father needs, he even asked me what I think about religion, about the Indians, about running the tavern, about what it's like to be a businesswoman in the colonies. No one ever asks me that. They just ask me how much the tavern is worth, like I'm only worth their time if the tavern makes a lot of money."

"I've never thought that."

"You also haven't married me, even though we've been engaged for over a year."

He made frustration suffuse his voice. "You know I can't do anything until-"

"I know! That wasn't a criticism. It's just… I don't believe I'm saying this, but he can marry me when you can't."

Zorro couldn't help himself, and stiffened ever so slightly. "I don't think he would appreciate being reduced to nothing more than a body at the altar."

Victoria quickly agreed. "I don't think so either. I want him to be so much more. It's like I simply woke up one day and noticed him, and he's wonderful." She sounded surprised.

"That's good, isn't it?"

"But now, after what happened today, what with the Alcalde wanting to hang him, and him maybe not being here any longer, it means that I…" She seemed hesitant to put her feelings into words. "He's the best friend I have in this pueblo, and I realized I don't want to go on without him."

Zorro was silent after her confession. He again wrapped her in an embrace, cradling her to hopefully prove his lack of anger in this situation. "I should be jealous, or angry, or at least worried. But I'm not."

She sniffed. "Why aren't you?"

His smile again held absolution. "I've often thought of him as my more scientific… 'partner' is the right term. I wouldn't give you up to just anybody."

Her confusion was genuine. "Give me up? Do you want to break up with me?"

"On the contrary, Victoria. I mean that he's one of the few men who sees what a treasure you are. And since I haven't been able to find a way to give you the kind of life you deserve, I… I have to give you up before I get you killed." The last he rushed through like it had been a heavy thought on his mind for a long time, but he wasn't sure what her reaction would be.

Her reaction was to show even more confusion. "How will you get me killed?"

"It's dangerous for you to even associate with me. This thing with Bishop is the latest example. I'm not safe to be around, Victoria." He laid his head on top of hers and hugged her tight. "Though I don't know how I'll go on without you."

"You'll always have a piece of my heart, Zorro. Diego will keep it safe for you."

His laugh sounded more like crying. "I doubt he'll want to do anything of the kind."

"He told me so today when I said I… I'm rather surprised he believed me, after all the horrible things I've said to him in the past." She hugged Zorro to her. "I wanted him to be more like you so it made some sense why I like him. But I finally decided I like him better because he's nothing like you."

"You like him?" He couldn't keep a hint of disappointment out of his voice at her use of the more lukewarm word 'like.'

She buried her face in his chest so that his shirt muffled her voice, as if it could also soften what she wanted to say. "I love him. But I love you, too." She shook her head again, as if to shake out her opposing thoughts. "I'm sorry." Tears coursed down her cheeks and wet his shirt. "I'm such a mess!"

He brushed her tears away with his gloved thumbs. "I'm just glad you're alive. And if I have to release you… for your own safety… I wouldn't do it for anybody but Don Diego."

She looked up, her eyes still glistening. "Really?"

"Really." He gave her one last squeeze. "Now, let's find that bullet, and get Don Diego released from jail. Then I can deal with Bishop." His voice hardened. "If it's a fight he wants, it's a fight he'll get."

She smiled. "Diego softened him up just right for you."

He smiled because she did. "It appears that I owe a lot to Don Diego."

Victoria abruptly barked a laugh of amusement.

He didn't see how any part of this situation with Bishop was remotely amusing. "What is it, Señorita?"

Blinking her tears away, her smile turned ironic. "We just had our first real conversation, and the entire time, we talked about another man."


	8. Chapter 8

i

Chapter 8

When Victoria said she considered Don Diego to be another man, Zorro let the guilt suffuse him... for one second. In reality, he didn't have time for useless emotions like guilt. Zorro had realized long ago that any emotion tended to mess with events. His love for Victoria was the one emotion he would acknowledge on any given day, and the conversation he'd just had with the tavern owner had ended any hope of furthering a connection between Zorro and the Señorita. It was a good thing his alter ego was the other man in this case, or he might have chosen to wallow in a jealous depression.

But he didn't have time for depression any more than he did for guilt. In truth, he was making sure that Victoria was no longer a target for men like Bishop, so there was nothing to be depressed about. Plus, he was in effect giving up Victoria to himself which, while confusing, was a far better outcome for their relationship than he had ever considered possible. The talk they'd just shared had ended some things as well as begun others.

It was, however, more important than ever that his identity never be discovered.

He therefore vowed that this was Zorro's last adventure. He couldn't continue the Zorro legend and simultaneously ensure a normal life for Victoria with Don Diego, so the masked man had to come to an end. Victoria would continue to be a target for any criminal wanting a reputation if it didn't. But to do that, he needed to uncover the truth about Bishop. A cool head was a necessity for deduction, one completely devoid of emotional distractions, including thoughts of Victoria.

"We have to find that bullet," Zorro firmly announced, and released Victoria.

"But I can't find it," Victoria reminded in frustration, peering again at the smooth wood of the bar.

"That just means we aren't looking for it in the right place," Zorro said, sweeping the bar with a critical glance. "It has to be here somewhere." Ignoring his own feelings of irritation, he turned to regard the empty room. "From what Don Diego told me, he was sitting there." Zorro walked to a table set a bit back from the door. "Bishop was sitting between Don Diego and the door." He walked to where Bishop should have been. "You were standing at the bar-"

"Facing the door," Victoria interjected, "holding a bottle of wine in my right hand."

"And you didn't know the person who had ordered it, and Señorita Caldone was facing you, still wearing her riding gloves during your conversation." Zorro swivelled to again take in the room as a whole. "Noise from the lunch crowd made Don Diego glance up from his book, saw Bishop aiming a gun at you, threw his book, and spoiled Bishop's aim."

"The bullet hit the wine bottle instead of me," Victoria said, getting into the spirit of the moment by pantomiming a bottle exploding and glass flying everywhere.

"In that case, the bullet should be imbedded in the outside of the bar's counter, _there_."

Zorro pointed right at the spot he'd targeted, but it was obvious by the smoothness of the wood that no bullet had come anywhere near that spot in many years, if ever.

"See what I mean?" said a frustrated Victoria. "There isn't a bullet hole, or a hole that has been covered up in a hurry, like someone's trying to hide something, or even a nick in the wood. There's nothing."

Zorro grabbed one of the candles and held it as close to the counter as he dared without setting the bar on fire, crouching to stare closely at the wood. There was still nothing to see.

Perplexed, Zorro sat back on his heels and stared like Victoria had been staring when he'd found her. But staring did no good; the wood of the bar remained as smooth as it had ever been, and the bullet remained elusive.

Then Zorro gave a thoughtful start. "Something…." He let his voice trail away as he stared at the bar.

A silent moment went by. Then another.

"Do you see something?" Victoria impatiently whispered. "What is it?"

Zorro smiled. "Besides my legs falling asleep from crouching too long, there's something niggling at the back of my brain."

Victoria smiled with him. "I know what you mean about crouching. Just yesterday, I had to lean over a floor rack to select some wine that-"

"That's it!" Zorro stood, set the candle he was still holding aside, and shook his legs to restore the blood flow while beaming at Victoria. "You're a genius!"

"I am? What-"

"The wine bottle," Zorro explained. "If Bishop's bullet struck the wine bottle like you say it did, the angle of the gun would still have caused it to hit you. No, wait, it wouldn't have," he instantly contradicted himself. Zorro whirled back to face the room, slowly recreating the events leading up to the shooting incident. "Bishop aimed, Don Diego threw the book, it hit Bishop's hand right when Bishop fired... the gun would have been knocked just a little bit to Bishop's right." Zorro followed the new path of the invisible bullet, then stopped to stand beside Victoria at the bar. "By all accounts, he should have shot Señorita Caldone."

Victoria stared at Zorro, as perplexed as he was. "But he didn't, and she was even saved from the flying glass because she was still wearing her riding gloves." She paused in her recitation, frowning. "But the day was so hot."

"And it was noon, a busy time for the tavern."

"I remember, there was a huge crowd here for lunch. I was thinking that I didn't have time for chatting, that I had to start taking lunch orders… but I stayed talking to Tansy, and I wondered why didn't she take off her gloves? They must have been annoying, since it was so hot."

Zorro vented frustration by sighing loudly, and growled low in his throat. "This just doesn't make sense."

"No, it doesn't."

Zorro brought a gloved hand up to thoughtfully rub his chin. "So we have to make it make sense."

"What do you mean?"

"Give me a reason, _any reason,_ why this might make sense. The crazier, the better."

"Oh. All right." Victoria thought for a moment. "Tansy ducked out of the way of the bullet at the last second."

Grinning, Zorro shook his head. "Even I can't purposely dodge a bullet."

They were both quiet for the moment before Zorro muttered, "Bishop's aim was ruined so badly by Don Diego that he missed even hitting Señorita Caldone."

Victoria sarcastically said, "I know personally that Bishop's a better shot than that. Besides, if he missed Tansy, then the bullet would still be imbedded in the bar, but it's not there. So that can't be it." Suddenly her head jerked up from where she was staring at the bar. "Bishop fired, but without a bullet in the gun." Then her nose wrinkled. "Can you do that?"

"Most assuredly," Zorro replied. "But then there would only have been a click from the gun, not the roar that several witnesses insist they heard."

"And there was gunsmoke."

"Which means there was gunpowder, so there was probably also a bullet in the gun," Zorro concluded as he looked again at the bar. "But then, _where is the bullet?_ And why didn't it hit the Señorita?" He considered another scenario, "You threw the bottle into the air, and Bishop shot it like an act in a trick show."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "I'm not even going to bother answering that."

Zorro laughed.

Victoria grew sheepishly apologetic. "You _did_ say to give any suggestion. All right, how's this: Tansy didn't take off her gloves so she could avoid getting some infectious disease now besetting the tavern."

Zorro laughed again. "Should I be glad I'm wearing gloves, too?"

"You're right; the day the tavern has a-"

"Though there _is_ something about Señorita Caldone's riding gloves that keeps tickling my mind, more even than Bishop's bullet. Why? Unless… the two are somehow linked?"

Victoria's eyebrows rose. "But how can a bullet be linked to wearing gloves?"

"Maybe… the Señorita knew ahead of time not to remove her gloves in order to protect her hands from the flying glass when the wine bottle exploded."

Victoria's forehead wrinkled. "But there's still no bullet hole in the bar. If the bullet didn't hit the bottle or the bar, then it should have hit Tansy, but it didn't. It's like Bishop never intended to hit either me or the bottle or Tansy, so she was never in any real danger of getting hurt like I did." She indicated her injured hands.

Zorro rocked on his heels as he mulled that over. "It definitely seems that Señorita Caldone knew about the exploding wine bottle ahead of time."

Victoria glanced sharply at Zorro. "But that must mean…"

"She's in league with Bishop."

Victoria gaped open mouthed. "How can she be? It's no secret that he's the one who shot me before… and though she hadn't moved to Los Angeles yet when it happened, I've told her that story a hundred times." He mouth fell open again in astonishment. "How can she be my friend and in league with the man who shot me at the same time?"

Knowing that Victoria's emotional upheaval was about to commandeer their deduction, Zorro quickly searched his mind for a distraction. "If Bishop's bullet didn't hit the wine bottle, then what did?" He walked to the fireplace in the far corner at the rear of the tavern, then turned back to regard the bar. "Was the bottle hit by an object that someone threw?"

Successfully distracted from her thoughts of her friend and Bishop, Victoria questioned, "Can you throw something hard enough and so far that it will break a bottle? And wouldn't the crowd have gotten in the way if something was thrown from way back there?"

"You would think so. Unless… several other people made certain the crowd that day stayed back, thus clearing a sort of aisle for… what? An object thrown by hand?" Zorro was now muttering softly to himself. "But it's doubtful someone can throw something by hand hard enough to break a bottle. Was it something tossed by a boa?"

"What's a boa?" Victoria asked, but he was going on.

"A bow caster? No, too obvious. Was it because of a crossbow bolt? No, a crossbow is too large, and again too obvious."

"I would sense a crossbow from a mile away."

Zorro grinned in unrestrained pride. "Yes, you do have a strange ability to pinpoint hidden weapons. I've often wished I could take you along when I ride just because of that."

"Really?" Victoria basked in the unexpected praise for a moment. Zorro was still smiling at her when she blurted, "The weapon could have been a slingshot! Felipe once smuggled one in here inside his shirt, just to see if he could fool me."

"Did he?" This story had not been shared with either Diego or Zorro. He wondered how he hadn't heard it before. "A slingshot is certainly small enough to hide."

"As Felipe proved."

Zorro pensively continued, "If used correctly, a slingshot can easily catapult a small object long distances, certainly between here and the bar, and with enough force to break a bottle. So, we'll go with that idea for now." Zorro again regarded the table near the fireplace, then the bar, then the table, then the bar again. "But that would mean that Bishop was in league with… how many people?"

"There's Tansy… maybe." Victoria sounded quite put out when she said it.

"And the slingshotter makes two. He or she would have needed at least two more people to hold back the crowd, maybe four. That makes a gang of six criminals, all working together for… what purpose? So Bishop could shoot _at_ you but not actually shoot you?"

"He told Diego he'd singled me out because he wanted to gain your attention," Victoria reminded him.

The mask once again did nothing to conceal Zorro's wrinkled brow. "For what reason?"

Victoria shrugged. "According to Bishop, so he could kill you… as if he could _ever_ kill Zorro."

Zorro grinned again. "I appreciate the vote of confidence." Then his brow wrinkled once more. "But that makes no sense. I beat Bishop soundly on our last encounter. I didn't even have to use my sword to do it. What's the point of Bishop wanting a rematch? So I can beat him up again?" Then he stared apologetically at Victoria. "Forgive me for the violence, Preciosa, but I was, shall we say, _very_ perturbed at the time."

Victoria once again barked a laugh of sarcastic amusement. "You should have killed him. Then we wouldn't be having this problem now."

Zorro remembered her previous opinions towards Bishop when she spoke to Diego at the jail, and wasn't as surprised by her violent leanings this time. But it did illustrate a marked antipathy from Victoria towards Bishop. Which made some sense; he _did_ shoot her.

Zorro stared at Victoria, deep in thought. "But even if I don't automatically kill him this time around, how does that mean Bishop will kill me? Is he planning to use his partners to kill me?"

"Maybe he was banking on the fact that you wouldn't expect him to have partners in the first place. He _is_ more likely to act alone."

"True. But Bishop is still courting a sound thrashing again, even if the plan always was to involve some fellow criminals. I definitely have a score to settle with him now." His voice grew hard and unforgiving as he spoke. "I don't take kindly to anyone using you for target practice." A moment later, Zorro again shook his head to remind himself of the problem at hand. "I just can't fathom a logical reason for Bishop to return to Los Angeles for something as simple as a matter of revenge, especially when success of that revenge isn't certain. I'm still missing a piece of the puzzle."

Victoria suddenly grinned and relaxed against the bar. "I love watching you work. You'll figure this out just like you always do."

Zorro's grin matched her own. "Your confidence in me is truly overwhelming, Señorita." Then his grin soured a touch. "But the stakes in _this_ puzzle are rather high. So…" He again faced the bar. "What am I missing?" He thought for a moment. "Let's go back to the slingshot idea. If such a weapon was used, and it had slung something hard enough to break the wine bottle, that something would have landed somewhere near where you were standing that afternoon." Zorro walked back to the bar and looked at the tile floor for something that had been turned into a small missile, but saw nothing hard enough to break anything. "It would have to be a rock, or a piece of crockery, or even a coin. Maybe it hit the bottle, ricocheted into the bar, then bounced back to slide under the tables?"

Zorro found it immediately, lying innocently under a nearby table. It was a small rock, rolled smooth and round by some kind of water source, easy to hang onto with only his thumb and index finger, and more importantly, would fit snugly into a slingshot. "If this rock was slung at you hard enough to break a bottle, it would have had to hit the bar… there."

Victoria turned to where Zorro pointed. A slight indentation surrounded by several slivers of loose wood met her probing gaze. "I wouldn't have seen it at all if I hadn't been looking for it."

Zorro's smile showed satisfaction now. "That solves the points of how the wine bottle broke, and possibly why Señorita Caldone wore gloves on such a hot day. It still doesn't explain where Bishop's bullet is."

Zorro straightened from examining the indentation in the bar just as Victoria threw up her hands to show her frustration. "I've looked! I can't find it anywhere!"

Forcing down his own desire to give in to mounting frustration, Zorro slowly drew a deep breath in through his nose and let it hiss out through his mouth. "I've always found that when I can't solve something, it's a good idea to take a step back to consider things again." With that advice in mind, he physically stepped to the back of the tavern in order to take in the entire area near the bar. He slowly perused the floor by the bar's green counter, the bar itself, the counter top that Victoria kept so well polished, the glasses resting on the top of the bar, the shelves rising behind the bar, the dishes decorating those shelves- "That's odd."

"What is?"

"There's a broken dish right up there near the top of the shelves behind the bar." Zorro pointed.

"There is?" Victoria turned to look.

"I don't think I've ever seen a broken dish up there before."

"That's because I always remove one the minute it breaks," Victoria answered. "Broken dishes look untidy, and once when my mother was still alive, a piece of a broken dish fell on one of our helpers and hit her on the head. She was never quite the same after that. A few years ago, Diego made me a special ladder that hooks onto the shelves so I can safely climb that high to clean and remove anything that's broken."

"So why didn't you do so this time?"

"I didn't know there was a broken dish till just now."

"Is that because it broke before Bishop shot his gun and you didn't know it was broken? Or was it broken by his bullet, perhaps?"

Victoria glanced back at him, hardly breathing. "Maybe." She pointed towards an adjoining room. "The ladder's in that storeroom there. I'd get it for you, but…" Her head bent towards her bandaged hands.

"Be right back." A moment later, Zorro returned with ladder in tow. He carefully hooked it to the tavern's decorative shelves, and climbed until he had no trouble reaching the broken plate. He cautiously nudged the pieces of the plate aside… to find himself staring right at a bullet hole with the bullet still in it. "Aha." He pulled out the knife he always carried in his boot, and was about to dig the bullet out of the wood when he stopped himself. "On second thought, I'll let Sergeant Mendoza do the honors. If either you or I show up with a bullet in hand, the Alcalde will claim that we're using just any old bullet in order to exonerate Don Diego."

"That's true, he would."

Zorro climbed back down to stand beside Victoria. "I'll wake the Sergeant." He turned to go.

"Zorro," Victoria suddenly said to the floor between them.

He turned back to face her again. "Is there something else?"

"I…" Victoria bit her lip in indecision, then blurted, "I might never see you again, and I want you to know that I-"

Zorro gently wrapped a gloved hand around her bandaged fingers and rubbed her cheek. "Please don't, Preciosa."

But Victoria would not be waylaid. "I'll always remember you, Zorro."

Zorro drew a shuddering breath, fighting to restrain his emotions once again. "I will do everything I can to absolve Don Diego."

"I know you will. I just want you to…" Suddenly she threw her arms around him. "Stay safe! I don't know what we would have done all these years without you… what _I_ would have done."

"Oh, Victoria. Please don't-"

"I love you, Zorro, even if I never say it again." She raised eyes filled with unshed tears to his masked face. "You saved me in more ways than one." She abruptly released him and ran to the front door, where she used the entire bandage wrapping her right hand to energetically shove the bolt aside. "I'll wake Sergeant Mendoza. You shouldn't be seen as having anything to do with this." She paused right as she reached the door handle to whisper, "Adios." She yanked open the door with her less injured left hand, and was gone.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Zorro stood for a moment in the silence of the empty tavern, swamped by feelings of abandonment. Though he knew on one level that he was being completely ridiculous, the place where he had always stored his yearnings for Victoria shivered and jumped and eventually collapsed. A gaping hole set up residence in his heart, making its thuds more painful than he'd ever experienced. Even when his father was shot several years before hadn't been this agonizing. The fact that he'd lost Victoria to himself did nothing to ease the pain he was feeling now. Faintly astonished at how much this hurt, he let the acidic sensation of a broken heart slowly numb his limbs.

He knew that he needed to move, knew that in reality, this wasn't really happening… or that it _was_ happening, but it didn't need to bother him this much, since it was Zorro who had lost Victoria, not Don Diego. But he just couldn't force his brain to accept that reality now that he faced it. For several long moments, he stayed cloaked in shadowy grief, and his body remained heavy and wooden. Only the sounds of Victoria returning with Sergeant Mendoza in tow woke him to the danger he was in. She was speaking loudly to help ensure his escape, and he needed to take advantage of that now while he had the chance.

He heard her stomping footstep on the porch, then a rattle of a key in the lock on the front door, then her voice declaring that she'd forgotten the door was already unlocked. By then, Zorro had darted through the curtain into the kitchen just as Victoria led a yawning Mendoza straight to the bar.

"It's right up there," she said, and pointed with her less bandaged hand. "Move the broken dish a little more to the side, and you should be able to dig it out."

"That's… impossible." Mendoza's voice trailed away as he glanced sharply around the tavern. "How did you move this ladder into place with your hands bandaged like that?"

Zorro wished the Sergeant hadn't chosen this particular moment to grow quite so astute. From the look of anxiety suddenly covering Victoria's face, so did she. But she kept her head and didn't once glance towards the kitchen, the most obvious spot for someone to hide. Instead, she laughed lightly through her nose, proclaiming, "My hands are much better now. I moved the ladder myself, then climbed up… as safely as possible. Please Sergeant, take a look."

Still unconvinced, but clearly willing to humor his favorite cook, Mendoza grasped the ladder and began climbing.

Zorro knew it was time to leave before he was captured. He'd assured that the bullet remained available to be found by the right persons in this instant, as well as indulged his own heartache for several minutes. It was time to return to Diego's incarceration. There, surrounded by the darkness of the jail, he could give in to his depressing contemplations as much as he wanted.

He vaulted through the kitchen window, snuck stealthily from shadow to shadow, and was at the cuartel stables before he knew it. It was a quick moment to change back to his guise as Don Diego, and from there, to slip quietly back into the jail.

"We found the bullet, Felipe!" Diego imparted in a whisper. "It was there all right, but much higher than I'd anticipated. It was as if Bishop never intended to shoot Victoria, but to only look like it."

Felipe raised his blue-coated arms in a shrug, furrowing his brow at the same time in a questioning manner.

Diego whooshed out a sigh of frustration. "I don't understand it either, Felipe. Why would Bishop want to act like he planned to shoot Victoria, but have no real intention of doing so? Earlier he told me that targeting Victoria was meant to bring out Zorro so that Bishop could kill him. But that doesn't make any sense, no matter how I look at it. I'm still missing something." His second frustrated sigh filled the jail. "I need to think on this some more. Good thing I'm in jail; I've never discovered a better place to think."

A smile on his face, Felipe unlocked Diego's cell and gestured into it with a pleasant wave.

"Gracias." Diego walked right into the cell, and Felipe obligingly locked him in. He lay down on the bunk and curled into a tight ball under the blanket as if he'd been there all night.

Minutes later a second lancer entered the jail to relieve Felipe. The two soldiers didn't even glance at each other. This new lancer took up position outside Diego's cell as Felipe strode smartly from the jail.

The minute he was gone, Diego threw aside the smelly blanket on the bunk, then stretched comfortably to indulge his emotions at last. The reality of ending the romance between Zorro and Victoria and starting one between Diego and Victoria had finally set in; unless he wanted his secret identity revealed to her in their first conversation, he needed to constantly utilize his more affected Diego voice and persona… for the rest of his life.

And that was as far as he got in thinking about his problematic relationship with the tavern owner. Sadly enough, now that he had all the time in the world to give in to distressing thoughts, he instead found his mind dwelling on the one missing piece of information in the Bishop puzzle; the gambler's true intentions. What was really going on here?

It was as if Bishop and his partners actually wanted to bring Zorro out into the open so they could then… kill him? Let him kill them? Converge on him as one to capture him so they could collect the large bounty that Spain had placed on his head? It gratified him to think that Victoria hadn't really been in danger that afternoon, at least not from a bullet. But he hated it when things didn't make sense, and he didn't think that he would have much luck in making them make sense, either. Not this time.

Growling in annoyance, Diego turned on his side and crossed his arms, not even caring what his guarding lancer might think about his apparent inability to sleep. The lancer would most likely put it down to Diego's worry about his own predicament. In reality, Diego secretly knew that Victoria and Mendoza were probably right now convincing the Alcalde that something else was clearly going on in this situation, and that to hang him for his role in Bishop's capture would surely bring harsh repercussions from Spain onto De Soto himself. The more immediate reason for his hanging, his claim to be Zorro, was definitely more troublesome, but the Alcalde's aforementioned time limit of twenty-four hours wasn't up yet. Diego still had one more day to come up with a plan to handle the Alcalde's decree. He was sure that he'd come up with something by then. He had to.

All in all, Diego felt confident that he had nothing to fear… yet. There were just too many unanswered questions for even De Soto to hang anybody.

It was therefore a tremendous surprise to Diego that at 6:00 the following morning, Sergeant Mendoza entered the jail wearing the most apologetic expression on his face that Diego had ever seen.

"I'm sorry, Don Diego," Mendoza began while jangling the key in the cell door. "I've been instructed to bring you outside for your hanging."

"My what?" Diega gasped. He jumped up from where he'd been sitting on the bed. "But it hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet!"

"I know, Don Diego." Mendoza looked miserable. "Señorita Victoria led me to the bullet from Bishop's gun, but it wasn't enough to convince the Alcalde that Zorro shouldn't be hung as soon as possible. And that's you."

This was an occurrence that Diego hadn't anticipated. He didn't have a clever idea worked out to rescue Diego from hanging using either Toronado and Zorro, or his father and Felipe. There was nothing in his numbed mind now… nothing except that he hadn't even gotten to marry Victoria.

Marriage was the best way he had to keep Victoria safe at this point. She would enjoy so many luxuries as his wife that she didn't currently have. And now it was too late.

Despair hovered at the edge of his vision again, threatening to once more overwhelm him. He forced himself to take a deep breath, refusing to waste any more time on regrets. He should have prepared for this eventuality, but he hadn't. There was nothing more he could do for her now.

But then he remembered…

"A man's dying wish must be accepted even if he has no will," Diego quickly reminded Mendoza as the Sergeant worked to tie his hands behind his back.

"This is still true, Don Diego," Mendoza choked out, clearly upset at the near demise of his friend even as he dutifully led him from the jail and into the bright morning sunshine.

Diego squinted against the light. The sun had barely risen, and it was still so early that a crowd hadn't yet gathered in the plaza near the hastily erected wooden gallows. His father hadn't arrived, or even Victoria. There was no one gathered for his hanging except the Alcalde and his lancers.

In a rush of understanding, Diego realized that the Alcalde knew his actions were questionable if not downright illegal, and wanted to get it over with before anyone could stop him. That was the reason for the early hour. Diego also realized he couldn't suddenly utilize Zorro's skills for a daring last minute escape, either, as such a thing would only cement what De Soto thought he knew about the bandit's identity. If it became known that Diego really was Zorro, then the Alcalde would have every right to hang Diego as an enemy of the Spanish Empire. Yes, both Zorro and Diego were good and caught this time.

Even with a sinking heart, Diego managed to keep his wits enough to yell over the heads of the gathered lancers, "Since our lawyer never arrived to show the illegality of this hanging, or to settle my affairs, I have a few requests to make."

"I understand, Don Diego," Mendoza said from his side even as De Soto hissed, "Mendoza! I order you to hurry it up!"

 _I bet you do_ , Diego bitterly said to himself, but he refused to be cowed into silence at this last moment of his life. Knowing that he had nothing left to lose by alerting the people of the pueblo as to what was going on, Diego hollered more loudly yet, "I want all my monetary holdings and future inheritance to be equally split between Felipe and Victoria Escalante. I want 1000 pesos to go to Jaime Mendoza, who will also carry out these instructions."

There, that made him feel better. It also satisfied him to note that his yelling had brought out several people from their houses surrounding the plaza to see what was going on. What should have been a private hanging had suddenly become a public spectacle, thanks to him.

This of course did _not_ sit well with the Alcalde. "I told you to hurry!"

Mendoza awkwardly remarked, "Don Diego has the right to a last request, mi Alcalde. I can't change the law."

De Soto growled in restrained anger. "Very well. Carry on, Sergeant."

But by now, people were streaming into the plaza, shouting protests at the tops of their lungs. Hastily dressed guests poured out of the tavern to add to the growing melee. In the next instant, Victoria was there, still dressed as she had been the night before, interjecting her small form between Diego and the Sergeant.

"No!" she yelled. "I won't let you!"

Somehow his father must have discovered De Soto's plan, and he was there, too, doing his best to push aside the nearest lancers. "You can't hang my son!" A lancer shoved his rifle into Don Alejandro's face as a deterrent, and Alejandro struck out with his fist.

A fight instantly erupted. The gathered crowd quickly formed into a mob, though some people still wore no protection but their nightclothes.

"You can't!" Victoria yelled, pushing against the lancers still in her way.

"Victoria, don't!" Diego answered back. "It's not worth your life."

She turned to face him, the morning light sparkling on teary cheeks. "But don't you see that I won't have a life if you're gone?"

"You'll still have Zorro," Diego insisted, willing her to listen and stop resisting.

"A legend isn't what I want. You are!" Victoria yelled, just as insistent.

Before he had the chance to privately rejoice at these words, hands abruptly grabbed Diego from behind and pulled him to the gallows, propelling him by force up one of the steps to the hanging platform, though he resisted all the way. Victoria held on tight to his white shirt sleeve, propelled with him by the crowd surging around them.

Alejandro threw himself between his son and the lancers behind him while Victoria intervened with the lancers in front of him. Diego tried to call over the noise of the crowd not to hurt her, but his voice was lost in the growing confusion. De Soto had a stranglehold on his collar, tugging him backwards up the steps, and it was getting hard to breathe. His father continually pushed himself in front of the Alcalde, while Sergeant Mendoza had his hands full trying to protect the Señorita.

Pitchforks and axes had somehow found their way into the hands of several outraged individuals, and a true revolt formed in the shadow cast by the gallows. The lancers brandished their rifles, though no one had fired a shot yet. But it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt.

"No!" Victoria yelled once again, pushing against Mendoza. "You can't-"

Rifles cracked into the early dawn light when two soldiers fired over the heads of the protesting crowd, forcing everyone into a pregnant silence. They stared at each other, breathing hard, all of them afraid to move.

Toronado's ear-splitting scream suddenly rent the air. Heads jerked up, eyes darted skyward, lancers and gathered crowd alike scanned the tops of buildings and the road leading out of town, searching for the expected appearance of The Fox. The Alcalde jerked Diego to a stop, his hand now on the hilt of his sword as both he and Diego completely stopped breathing, united in their mutual astonishment.

A black clad Zorro raced around the corner of the cuartel, brandishing his sword in his right hand as his left fought Toronado for control of the bit. Gentle yet firm, he restrained his high-strung mount, but nudged him right up next to where Diego stood at the bottom of the gallows.

"You'll thank me for this someday, Alcalde," Zorro said, in Zorro's voice, using Zorro's inflections. The fist in the black glove that connected with De Soto's jaw was also a perfect replica of Zorro's unique brand of justice.

Except Diego knew that it wasn't Zorro. At least, it wasn't _his_ Zorro.

The hold on Diego's collar disappeared as De Soto flew backwards. Feeling flabbergasted and amazed and wholly out of control, Diego gaped in open mouthed astonishment at the man dressed in black. His expression did nothing to deter the bandit from efficiently slicing through his bonds, releasing him. A nearby lancer instantly raised his rifle, almost as if he had known the outlaw was coming, but Zorro's whip cracked the air as it yanked the rifle from his hands.

More raised rifles met similar fates. Toronado pushed himself to become a 1500 pound wall of muscle and fury as the great black horse first herded the lancers into a corner near the cuartel, then spun around in ever widening circles to keep them there. Finally recovered from the masked man's punch, De Soto planted himself directly in Zorro's path and sneered at the outlaw.

"You're surrounded, Zorro. Give up or die."

"I don't like ultimatums. Instead, here's a present." Zorro raced around the corner again, but returned immediately, leading an irritated but otherwise uninjured Bishop on a horse with his hands tied securely behind his back. "Look who I discovered trying to sneak away from the good doctor's house. I convinced him to tell me what's really going on, and now he wants to share it with you." He glanced at Bishop, as did everyone else. "Please, just as we rehearsed."

Bishop snarled and glared, but grumpily said, "The Alcalde promised to pay me if I found a way to bring out Zorro." His glare turned on Victoria. "I found a way, but it's the Alcalde who wants to kill him. I just did this for the money."

Murmurs broke out at the same time that De Soto drew his sword to point at the outlaw. "And my plan worked perfectly. Like I said, you're surrounded." Men dressed as common peasants suddenly stepped out of the crowd, waving their pistols in Zorro's direction. "Dismount and accept your punishment, Zorro. You can hang in the place of de la Vega."

His grin never wavering, Zorro replied, "Then you admit then that I'm not Don Diego?"  
"Diego as Zorro? Don't make me laugh," De Soto coldly stated. "He's nothing but bait, and never has been, the useless..." He pointed his sword straight at Zorro. "You, on the other hand, are-"

Each lancer dressed as a peasant suddenly had ten real peasants converge on him, knocking their weapons aside and subduing them with minimal effort. In a few blinks of the eye, every plain clothed lancer was on the ground, breathing dust.

"Gracias, amigos." Zorro turned back to face the Alcalde. "That tends to happen when you pit good people against someone who's paid." Abruptly much less pleasant, he struck out at De Soto's sword in an unfriendly swipe, disarming him in one move.

"Here's how it's going to be," he said, all hints of jocularity and friendliness gone from his voice. "You'll leave the people of Los Angeles alone… _especially_ the de la Vegas. Bother any one of them… at any time… and I'll be back… in a far less amiable mood." A terrible smile curved his lips under the dark moustache. Despite the typically pleasant notions promised by a smile, this one promised other things, all of them extremely unpleasant.

Bishop chose that moment to let a hidden knife slip through the rope binding his hands, toss the rope aside, and throw the knife straight at Zorro.

At the same time, the Alcalde drew his own knife to also throw at Zorro in one smooth motion.

In two furious swipes, Zorro used his sword blade to deflect Bishop's knife into DeSoto's leg and the Alcalde's into Bishop's heart.

De Soto clutched his leg and yelled in pain as Bishop gave a small yelp of surprise and slowly slid to the ground to lay in an unmoving heap in the dust.

The outlaw stared at Bishop's prone form in cold calculation. "I _did_ promise, Señor. That's what you get when you gamble with Zorro."

Utter silence met this surprising move. The only sounds in the plaza were Toronado crunching on his bit, the song of a lone bird, and a cry from De Soto as he slipped in his own pool of blood before righting himself again.

Zorro turned his glare on De Soto, eyes sparking his fury. "I'll let you live this last time, Alcalde." Then those eyes behind the mask narrowed as his voice lowered to a livid rasp. "But don't do that again."

His eyes then softened as they met Victoria's gaze, but he didn't kiss her knuckles, or make any promises, or say anything at all. Then his gaze slid to Diego's… and Diego found himself staring into a set of familiar brown eyes.

The glance lasted a second, then it was over. Toronado reared, and when the great black horse's hoofs smashed back to the ground, Zorro leaned over in the saddle, and with great relish, carved a 'Z' into the Alcalde's pristine military uniform. Then he straightened up, said, "You'll find Bishop's accomplices waiting inside the jail. Adios!" and galloped out of town in a cloud of choking dust.

For the first time, the people didn't know whether to cheer their hero out of the peublo, or to hold silent vigil at his leaving. They compromised by holding their collective breath, and to exhale as one, the air now trembling with the breeze of the bandit's passing.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A/N: Chapters 10 and 11 act as denoument chapters, so I'll post them together.

Five hours later, Diego had eaten, bathed, dressed in clean clothes that didn't stink of the jail, let his father fuss over him, and was now sitting patiently at his desk in the cave as his watch ticked away the passing minutes. He had filled Toronado's feeding trough with hay, the grain bag with a small mix of oats and corn, and the water bucket with enough water to satisfy what had to be a thirsty steed after all this time, but not so much that it would hurt the horse. He had made sure that his championship saber still hung in its place on the coat rack, then polished it till it gleamed. The sharpening stone was now silent and still, but the sword was so sharp that it sliced the hair that Diego pulled from his scalp into two lank pieces. Still Zorro had not returned.

Diego was now reduced to running his fingers over a book from top to bottom, then flipping it over to run it through his fingers again, over and over. He did that for

fifteen minutes, but the pulley system at the other end of the cave remained still. Fifteen more minutes passed. He tried reading the book rather than fiddling with it, but the words refused to hold his attention, and he returned to his fiddling.

Ten minutes later, the pulley system finally moved, heralding Toronado's return. Diego sat back, refusing to budge from his seat at the desk until he actually laid eyes on Zorro's black clad form. Once he did, he still refused to rise. He would wait to see what this other Zorro might do.

It was like watching himself ride into the cave. Toronado knew just where to go, only coming to a halt when he'd reached his stall and the small bag of grain that Diego had provided for him. Not wasting time, Zorro swung off his mount the second the black stallion came to a stop and began untacking him. First he pulled the bridle off the black head, hung it up on a peg on the wall after washing the bit in a bucket and straightening the reins, then pulled the heavy saddle from the horse's back and slung it over the stall's wooden gate for later cleaning. He began to run a brush over the horse's sweaty flank, but Diego decided that he'd prolonged the silence long enough.

Maintaining the almost reverent hush that had fallen over the cave, he quietly asked, "Where have you been?"

Zorro paused in his brushing duties to stare thoughtfully at the opposite wall. "I've been around," he vaguely answered, then admitted, "Out riding. I wanted to see for myself what Toronado can do."

Diego was hardly a sympathetic listener. "I've been waiting for over an hour."

Zorro removed his gloves to rub at a particularly stubborn section of dirt with his nails, smoothing out the black fur before saying, "Waiting isn't fun, is it?"

So, Zorro wasn't going to volunteer any details. This wasn't going to be easy. Diego sighed in resignation, and resumed his book fiddling. Five more silent minutes

passed before Zorro was satisfied with the state of his horse, and backed out of Toronado's stall. Only then did he rip off the black mask to regard Diego out of his familiar brown eyes.

"What did you want me to do?" Felipe rhetorically asked as he pulled the fake moustache from his upper lip and wiped away the glue used for Pueblo dramas that still clung to his skin. "Let the Alcalde hang you? Let Bishop run free to terrorize Señorita Escalante some more?"

"Tell me one thing, Felipe," Diego demanded instead of answering. "When did you learn to speak?"

Felipe gushed out a breath of air like he was about to enter the lion's den. "I haven't been waiting each time you rode out all these years." Then he rolled his eyes and conceded, "Well yes, I was waiting, but that wasn't all I was doing. I passed the time by reading up on the throat muscles, on tongue movement, on lip movement, on pronunciation technique, on articulation and emphasis, and above all, the importance of breath support. Then I practised… and practised, and practised." Suddenly, he grinned. "There's nothing like a good speech session to really get the blood flowing!"

Diego again grew flabbergasted. "But you sounded just like me! You had the same speech patterns, the same inflections, the same tone, the same voice…"

"Of course I did," Felipe explained when Diego trailed into silence. "What if I had to _be_ you someday, for when you got into trouble and only I could get you out of it." He began changing his clothes as he spoke, and now looked wryly at Diego over his shoulder as he once again donned his own shirt. "Toronado won't let just anybody ride him."

"True, but-" Diego cut himself off to stare at Felipe in amazement. "Why did you never let me know? I would have been so pleased for you… _am_ so pleased."

Felipe pulled on his pants, his wry smile turning rueful. "You have this way about you, of… sort of taking over," he apologetically said. "Kind of like your father."

"Oh," Diego thoughtfully replied. "I'm not sure I like the sound of that."

Felipe put out a placating hand. "Don't think of it that way. Both you and your father go about taking control in very different ways. Don Alejandro bursts in and takes over because he thinks he can do a better job. You take over because you _can_ do a better job."

In spite of the complement, Diego just looked sad. "But you didn't want me to help you regain your voice."

Felipe looked abashed instead of sad. "It's _my_ voice."

"And that's why you worked so hard at sounding just like me, right?"

Despite the serious nature of their discussion, Felipe grinned. "That was an afterthought, though a good one."

"Yes, especially for me," Diego dryly responded.

Felipe couldn't quite hide the grin on his face. "Look, Father, we can go-"  
"Say that again," Diego demanded.

But Felipe was mystified. "What did I say?"

"You called me 'Father.'" Diego smiled now in wonder. "Nobody's ever called me that before."

The grin on Felipe's face was completely genuine now. "I'm happy to call you that for the rest of my life."

The answering smile on Diego's face faded. "After today, that life may be somewhat shortened, unfortunately."

Felipe's regret showed on his face. "I'm sorry about today. But I couldn't let either of them kill me… kill _you._ "

"They weren't trying to kill either one of us," Diego corrected. "They were trying to kill Zorro."

"And now neither of them ever will again."

Diego knowingly eyed his son. "The Alcalde will try if I know anything about Ignacio De Soto."

Felipe shook his head and argued, "I don't think so."

Diego argued back, "The Alcalde hates to be made to look foolish."

"Well, he _is_ foolish. He was working with _Bishop_."

Diego glanced sharply at Felipe. "Don't underestimate him."

"The danger isn't that I'll underestimate _him,_ but that he'll underestimate _me._ "

"You mean Zorro. He'll underestimate Zorro."

Felipe didn't have an answer to that.

Diego sighed again, and sat up. "Felipe, about what happened today…"

Felipe's face turned hard. "Today Zorro ensured two wonderful people can be together without danger of interference on Bishop's part, or prejudice on the Alcalde's. How he accomplished that should be put down to differences style. You have your brand of justice, I have mine."

"But Zorro never kills. You know that."

"And so does every bandit this side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains."

Diego couldn't argue with that. "Bishop did say something similar."

"Yes, I heard him. I also heard you talking to Señorita Victoria."

Diego slowly stood. "That was _you_?"

Felipe grinned again, clearly not realizing what he was confessing to. "Private Peralto and I were ordered to 'listen for the prisoner's confession.' The Private was listening; I was trying out my new lancer uniform."

"Felipe!" Diego was gently incensed. "That was during daylight hours. What if you'd been recognized?"

The rude sound Felipe made was full of innuendo. "De Soto and his lancers only see what they want to see. And as I'm technically only a servant, and a deaf/mute one at that, the Alcalde doesn't see me, and never has. Even after two years, he has no clue what I look like."

"Again, don't underestimate him," Diego cautioned. "He's a much worthier adversary than-"

Felipe made the same rude sound. "He may be a worthy adversary to you, but to me, he's been a thorn in the side of the people for long enough. I'll do my best to keep him alive, but I can't and won't promise anything."

Diego's brows went up. "So you plan to ride out as Zorro again?"

Felipe gently touched Diego's arm. "Father, you got the girl. It's time you enjoyed that for a change rather than just pine after her."

"I don't _pine._ "

Felipe grinned. "You forget who you're talking to. It's time to let someone else be Zorro now."

Diego sighed sadly once again. "Perhaps you're right." He recalled the vow he'd made to himself in the tavern to put an end to Zorro's adventures. Now he amended that vow to end instead his role in the Zorro legend, not the legend itself.

Suddenly curious, he asked, "How did De Soto learn about Bishop, anyway? The last time he came to Los Angeles, Alcalde Ramon was still in office."

Felipe's expression turned grim. "Bishop told me that De Soto read about him in Ramon's pueblo accounts and tracked him down. He offered all 6000 pesos of the reward money if he could bring Zorro out in the open. How he did it was up to him."

Diego sat for a frozen moment, baffled. "I'm astonished at the lengths Ignacio is willing to go just to capture Zorro."

"I'm not," Felipe brusquely announced. "When it comes to Zorro, that man is just this side of insane. If he was willing to kill you to capture Zorro, he was certainly willing to work with someone like Bishop."

"I guess I have you to thank for convincing him otherwise."

Felipe was again unapologetic. "I did what I had to do."

Diego remembered saying something similar just the day before. He could hardly fault Felipe for doing what he had done in a similar situation. Suddenly he smiled a proud smile. "You really were marvelous today. When did you get such good reflexes? Your defensive skills are impressive."

Felipe smiled the same embarrassed smile that he'd been using for years. "I had a good teacher."

"Though I did notice that you never dismounted from Toronado."

Felipe shrugged. "I'm not quite as tall as you are. Besides, I still can't make that whistle to call Toronado like you do. And it was important that the Alcalde see both you and Zorro together at the same time to really believe that you aren't Zorro."

"Though I am… though not anymore," Diego stated. He shook his head to shake away his confusion. "Where'd you get the sword?"

Felipe brightened. "Isn't she a beauty? I saved any money I got from you or Don Alejandro for years before I had enough to have it commissioned in Monterey. I just got it last month."

Diego swatted him. "You told me that was a present for Father!"

Felipe grinned. "And you believed every word I didn't say." And he waved his arms right under Diego's nose in his typical gestures. "Now all I need is to learn your whistle and to grow a mustache. And I ask that you don't say a word about how I can talk."

Diego looked at him reproachfully. "Is this like the way we kept your ability to hear from my father?"

Felipe solemnly shook his head. "No. But..." His voice trailed off, then he grinned. "What an excellent way for Zorro to hide!"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Victoria burst through the hacienda's front door without even knocking the minute siesta began that day. "Diego!" she called from the entryway.

"Victoria!" Diego began in delight, standing from the library chair where he'd spent the last hour reading. "What a pleasant surprise."

But when Victoria confronted Diego in the library, the expression on her face was more accusatory than pleasant. "This morning, in the plaza, Zorro's eyes were a different color."

This wasn't at all what he'd expected her to say. Diego could only stare as numbness crept over his body. "What?"

"You had to have noticed; he looked straight at you. His eyes were brown, not blue."

That was true. Felipe's eyes were brown, Diego's were blue, and Zorro… Trust Victoria to have noticed.

But his numbness had receded a bit by now as he realized that Victoria had also just given him a perfect reason to explain all this away. "Actually, I was busy trying not to get hung this morning. I didn't notice much of anything else. Sorry." And he gave an apologetic shrug. "Maybe it was a trick of the light. The sun was awfully bright this morning."

Victoria growled, but didn't argue with him.

"Have you heard if the Alcalde's going to be all right?" Diego asked, willing to say anything to distract her from the subject of Zorro.

Victoria either distracted quite easily, or chose to let the subject of Zorro's eye color drop for the time being. "Mendoza told me the Alcalde's leg will heal, eventually. He has to stay in bed for two weeks, then is restricted to light duty for the next month. He's to do pueblo paperwork and not much else."

Diego smiled. "Maybe he'll be in so much pain as he recuperates, he won't have any energy left over to think up ridiculous taxes."

"Or to make risky deals with wanted criminals." Victoria's voice was full of sarcasm.

The smile immediately left Diego's face. "Did anybody...take care of Bishop?"

Victoria heaved a sigh. "I know that you don't like to hear any unpleasant opinions about people, Diego, but I can't help disliking Bishop, and I have to say that I don't care what happened to him."

Diego's expression softened, and he came forward to take her left hand. "I'm sure you feel great antipathy for him, Victoria, and I don't blame you. It must be agony for you to even be in the same pueblo as he is."

"Even if he is dead."

Diego would have squeezed her hand in sympathy, but he didn't want to hurt her. "I'd be surprised if you felt any other way."

Victoria looked at him in astonishment. "I can't believe you said that." She glanced hastily around the room, as if looking for someone, twisting her hand away from Diego in order to see behind her. "Has Diego de la Vega suddenly developed a new personality to agree with more violent leanings?"

Diego grinned at her teasing. "Of course I haven't, much to my father's regret." Victoria laughed in agreement as he casually shrugged. "I just hate to see you get hurt, and would do anything to stop it."

Victoria abruptly took on an expectant look. "Then why don't you?"

Diego's expression grew puzzled. "Sorry, I don't know what you mean."

"You said you'd do anything." Her expectant look increased even as his puzzlement deepened. After another silent minute, she artfully reminded, "I'm waiting."

Diego shifted his book to his other hand. Was he supposed to do something? "Waiting for what?"

"Diego," Victoria gently admonished, no longer teasing. "How can we ever be together if you still keep things from me?"

He frowned once more. "I'm not-"

"Of course you are," she said in exasperation. "Your promise? I can't trust you if you can't trust me."

"Promise?" he asked, playing for time while all along knowing what she referred to; Zorro's promise to reveal his love for her when he permanently removed his mask. Which could mean only one thing: t _he secret of my identity… she knows!_ His insides promptly froze.

Then in the next second, the full impact of her knowledge hit him: if she knew about Zorro's identity, then she'd also known exactly who she was proclaiming love to when she'd talked to Diego the day before in the jail. Her later confessions to Zorro about Diego also carried a sense of purpose to them. The good-bye she'd then given to Zorro had been just as purposeful for her even as it had been painful for him. She'd let him think that she had chosen to leave Zorro for Diego… when all the time she'd known that she wasn't leaving him at all. She'd planned it all.

Anger surged in Diego as soon as he'd completed this thought… then it vanished with his next breath. It had occurred to him even through his anger that he was being completely unfair to Victoria; she'd done nothing to him over the last day that he hadn't spent years doing to her. And if she had chosen Diego over Zorro, it was because he had told her to, on multiple occasions.

Diego didn't waste time trying to fathom how she'd uncovered the truth, or even how much she'd uncovered, but was doing his best not to hyperventilate. It hadn't occurred to him that this might still be an issue for him now that he'd been forced to pass on the mantle of Zorro.

When it appeared that Diego would refuse to answer, Victoria seemed to wilt. "Please don't make me beg."

Diego closed his eyes for a brief second. _This isn't happening._ When he opened his eyes again, Victoria was still there, a beseeching expression on her face in spite of what she'd just said. "Victoria, I don't-"

Her gushing sigh of disappointment cut him off as well as completely ended any sense of prevarication between them. "I know that my safety isn't an issue any longer, and it doesn't matter now if I can keep your secret or not, in case that was worrying you. The Alcalde can't do anything to either of us even if he suspects. Nobody would ever believe him if he said anything, anyway." Desperation overtook her. "Is it because you really don't trust me?"

Diego sighed sadly, resigned, no longer bothering to pretend he didn't know what she was talking about. "It was never an issue of trust, Victoria," he softly imparted.

"Then what is it?"

Diego stalled for one blissful minute, then screwed up his courage to blurt, "It's fear. _My_ fear." He softened this admission with a tiny smile, "I've always been afraid."

Much to Diego's surprise, Victoria wasn't remotely sympathetic in spite of being a very sympathetic person. "Yes, I know, you've said that before. But that was over a year ago."  
"A year is not nearly enough time to-"

"Diego." Victoria's voice had taken on a hard edge. "You love me or you don't. Either way, if you don't tell me now, I'm going to walk out that door and-"

"I'm Zorro," he confessed in a rush to keep her there. "I mean I...was… Zorro."

"Finally!" A smile crept over Victoria's face. "Was that so hard?"

"You have no idea." Dizziness accosted Diego, and he fell into the chair he'd just vacated. "I think I'm going to be sick. Felipe!" he called in a panic.

His panic increased when Victoria took on a look of unbridled delight. At the same moment, he realized the mistake he'd just made; he'd called for Felipe as if Felipe could hear… which he shouldn't be able to, and she knew that Felipe was close to Diego, and hence close to Zorro… she thought she'd just stumbled on a clue as to how Zorro had always known when something was wrong in the pueblo, that Felipe had been a spy for Zorro.

To put at end to such mental wanderings, Diego explained between the short breaths he managed to take, "This is such... a large house, someone will hear me, and... let Felipe know... that I want… er, need him."

Victoria clearly reasoned that Felipe was deaf after all, and her delight vanished as her expression became annoyed upon hearing such a logical explanation. "Felipe's not your servant anymore, he's your son." Her tone of admonishment was back. "Don't expect him to look after you like he used to."

When Felipe bound into the room, as white as a ghost, eyes darting around as if looking for armed bandits, Victoria instantly held out a placating hand towards him. "Don Diego isn't feeling well. Maybe you can inform a servant for him? I don't want to leave him like this."

Felipe obviously had no trouble understanding her, though he was much less experienced in reading her lips than those of the people he lived with. Wide-eyed, he nodded and ran from the room.

Victoria's solicitous mein vanished the second he left. "Maybe you should put your head between your knees," she sarcastically suggested to Diego. "I hear that helps."

Diego shot her a dirty look even as he fought to slow his breathing. "You're enjoying this far too much."

"Of course I am," Victoria shot back. "I've been waiting for you to tell me for years. Did you think I wouldn't enjoy this?"

"I thought you'd be so angry that you'd hit me with a frying pan."

"I would, but I don't know where your cook keeps her pans." She suddenly took on a look of fake inspiration. "I could use your book! Let me borrow it."

Diego instantly thrust his book on his chair and sat on it. "No. Books are for bandits."

"Then yours should feel right at home."

Diego's face reddened. "I mean gamblers. Books are for gamblers."

"But you used lots of books these last few years," she argued. Her look now turned to one of feigned perplexity. "Do you mean to say that you aren't a bandit?"

"Of course I'm a bandit," Diego admitted at last, "and a rogue, and a fiend, and an outlaw, and… whatever else the Alcalde has called me over the years. And you are a devil for how you behaved yesterday. I believed every word you said!"

A satisfied smile tilted Victoria's lips. "Every word I said was true: I _do_ love you… both of you… or all of you, I mean."

"Well... stop being such a good actor!" Diego grumped, aware as soon as he spoke how foolish he was being.

Victoria's lips twitched with another satisfied smile, but all she said was, "At least you don't have to ride like a crazy man through the plaza anymore."

Soothed from his grumping, Diego's expression turned wry, then slightly abashed. "I liked riding like a crazy man. Besides, going so fast was Toronado's idea."

Victoria nodded knowingly. "Yes, he was the boss, after all."

Suddenly, Diego burst out laughing at the absurdity of this situation. He grabbed Victoria and pulled her down on his lap.

She gave a squeal of indignation, but couldn't do much more than wriggle with her hands bandaged the way the were. "Let me go!"

He noted that her voice sounded more teasing than angry. "I like you where you are," he said, pulling her tightly against him, calming her movements. "You never told me what happened with Señorita Caldone. Did you talk to her?"

Victoria stilled with the question. "Yes, right after we showed Bishop's bullet to the Alcalde. He wouldn't believe us, and still wanted to hang you. I got so upset that Mendoza rode with me to the Caldone hacienda in order to distract me."

"The look on your face tells me that it wasn't a good distraction."

Victoria's eyes gave a sardonic roll. "No, it wasn't. I woke the entire household, then asked Tansy right off if she and Bishop were working together. She just gave me this look like she wasn't sorry at all and said that she'd hooked up with Bishop because I'd made it seem that being in a relationship with an outlaw was so romantic. I yelled that there was as much resemblance between Bishop and Zorro as there was between the Alcalde and Padre Benitez, and threw a carafe of wine at her. There was wine and glass everywhere, particularly on her, I'm glad to say. That's when Mendoza grabbed me from behind and hauled me outside. He said we'd go for the doctor, and I was just getting back from telling Dr. Hernandez to see to her when your almost-hanging happened."

Before Diego could react to her story, Felipe rushed back in, followed by Maria the cook and Juan the head house man.

Diego pulled Victoria against his chest, liking her on his lap. "I feel much better now," he assured the minute they all slowed down to look at him quizzically, especially the way Victoria was now sitting on Diego's lap. Only once he'd said the words did he realize the double meaning to them. "It was just a moment of bad memories," he added to distract them.

"Yes," Victoria added, her voice sarcastic again. "His own personal nightmare."

Diego sent her a quelling look, but spoke to the others. "I apologize for causing a fuss."

Maria and Juan slowly went back to the duties Diego had interrupted, but Felipe remained to solicitously hover.

"Truly, Felipe," Diego persuaded. "You can stop looking at me like I'm going to combust at any moment. I'm fine."

Felipe's arms waved in rapid gestures.

Diego's face darkened. "That is not what I always say. But this time I really am fine. I didn't mean to scare you."

Felipe shot a last look of reproach at Diego, then reluctantly departed.

Victoria swiftly returned her gaze to Diego. "Felipe has brown eyes. He could be the new Zorro."

"Felipe is also a deaf-mute," Diego patiently pointed out.

"So the rumor goes. He could hear just fine, but not tell anyone. How would we know if he can hear, especially if he pretends?"

Diego heaved a sigh filled with just the right amount of forced patience that it would have fooled anyone. "Felipe has no reason to pretend. Besides, you know that he can't speak, and Zorro spoke perfectly well this morning in the plaza. We all heard him."

Victoria mulled that point over, then a moment later argued, "Felipe could have learned to speak but still make his signs, so no one would ever know that either. If he kept that a secret, too…"

Diego chuckled in disbelief, but inwardly cringed, amazed at how astute she'd grown over the last years. "If what you're saying is true, then Felipe is pretending all the time, and that just isn't like him. He has nothing to hide."

Victoria smiled innocently, but leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "Like father, like son."

The End


End file.
